Offline/Online Security in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc network is a network comprised of mobile nodes quickly forming an autonomous network for a particular purpose such as emergency search and rescue. One of the most prominent security challenges for such a network is the limited capacity in the mobile nodes, thereby preventing costly computation operations. However, this limitation on a mobile node manifests itself only when the mobile node is dispatched on an active duty (i.e., online). One can prepare the mobile nodes as much as possible offline in anticipation of an upcoming deployment. In this chapter, the authors present three offline/online authentication and key agreement schemes and one offline/online non-repudiation scheme, all aiming at fast online computation for mobile nodes in mobile ad hoc networks.