Evaluation of Trust Establishment Mechanisms in Wireless Networks: A Statistical Perspective

Establishing trust in wireless networks requires the network designer to incorporate different levels of security protocols in the network. These security protocols enable certain checks in the network which if found to be followed properly increase the trust level of nodes. A very simplistic trust establishment example is a network where in all nodes have IP (internet protocol) addresses starting with prime numbers. In such a network, if a node with a non-prime IP join in, then the other network nodes can identify this new (or discovered) node as an attacker and block communications with it. But for large-scale networks, complex trust establishment algorithms are needed, which can provide multi-level checks and thereby enhance the overall security of the network. In order to design a trust-based network, it is necessary for the network designers to evaluate and select the best protocol(s) suited for their network. To perform this task, a large amount of design time is dedicated to protocol evaluation, which delays network deployments. Thus, this text provides a statistical comparison of different trust establishment protocols applied to wireless networks and assists network designers to select the best suited protocol for their application. Moreover, this text also recommends certain upgradations to the existing protocols in order to further improve their security levels.