Applying pseudonimity for anonymous data delivery in location-aware mobile ad hoc networks

Privacy is becoming a major issue in ad hoc networks. In this paper, using pseudonimity for achieving communication anonymity in networks that apply geographic-routing algorithms is explored. An Anonymous Receiver-Contention POsitioning (ARCPO) routing algorithm is proposed. Node identities (IDs) are kept anonymous. Pseudonyms, i.e., the positions of destinations, are used for data-packet delivery. The anonymity for a destination relies on the difficulty of matching its position to its ID by any observer. Position servers that provide node position information act as trusted third parties and handle identity management. Node mobility makes the use of the pseudonym momentary, and therefore can further improve privacy. The anonymity for the source and intermediate nodes in the path is also achieved because they are not required to reveal any identity information. A receiver-contention mechanism is proposed so that a next hop can be generated without local position information exchange, which otherwise may lead to severe privacy degradation. Analysis and simulation show that while ARCPO guarantees anonymous communication in ad hoc networks, its routing performance degrades moderately compared with other position routing algorithms.