Security in Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks

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Information Operations and Electronic Warfare

We would like to start this chapter with a disclaimer: ‘Definitions, views and opinions expressed in this chapter do not necessarily reflect the official point of view of any national or international organization.’ We compiled the content of this very short chapter from open and unclassified material available on the Internet. Our goal is to provide a brief survey of the related terminology. We do not intend to provide an extensive survey where all the challenges and solutions are explained.

Ad hoc and sensor network applications are already employed for tactical systems such as friendly force tracking, unattended sensor networks, local area communications, maritime and land surveillance/reconnaissance. Tactical communications is naturally an ad hoc networking application. Concepts like network-centric warfare make ad hoc networking capabilities more and more important for the military. Therefore, the tendency is to increase the usage of these technologies in defense systems, which are targets for information operations. In addition to this, due to the effect-based operations approach and other state-of-the-art concepts, civilian systems that connect important nodes in national infrastructures and that are used in critical infrastructures are primary targets for adversaries in a war. Moreover, due to asymmetric warfare and low-intensity conflicts, the threats against information systems exist during crises and peace periods (Hammes, ...