Spread [electronic resource] : secure protocol for reliable data delivery /

by Lou, Wenjing.

ABSTRACT: Security is a critical issue in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). The current research and development in this area is still in its infancy. In this dissertation, we proposed and investigated a novel scheme, Secure Protocol for REliable dAta Delivery (SPREAD), to improve network security by enhancing the data confidentiality service in a MANET. The proposed SPREAD scheme aims to provide further protection to keep secret messages from being compromised (or eavesdropped) when they are delivered across insecure networks. The basic idea is to transform a secret message into multiple shares by secret sharing schemes; and then deliver the shares via multiple paths to the destination, so that even if a small number of the nodes used to relay messages are compromised, the secret message as a whole is not compromised. This dissertation focuses mainly on developing SPREAD in a MANET environment.