Universal resource allocation framework for preventing pollution attacks in network-coded wireless mesh networks

Abstract

In network-coded wireless mesh networks, pollution attacks cause severe disruption to data transmission. Existing schemes to combat pollution attacks only focus on defensive performance but ignore their resource consumption. In this paper, we investigate the optimal trade-off between defensive performance and resource consumption through a game-theoretical framework, where the interaction between the attacker and the defender is modeled as a two-player strategic game, and given the attacker’s strategy, the defender derives the best response strategy by optimizing its utility function. Under this framework, two network models are proposed: the first is assuming pollution and the other without. The capacity bounds for both models are derived, which are subsequently incorporated into the formulation of the utility functions. We also discuss the Nash Equilibrium between the attacker and the defender, and propose a feasible approach to find it. Finally, we compare the legitimate throughput of routing and network coding in the presence of pollution attacks to demonstrate that with limited defensive resources, routing can achieve a better legitimate throughput than network coding.