Abstract
Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) work without any fixed infrastructure and each node in the network behaves as a router in order to transmit data towards the destination. Due to the lack of central point of control, MANETs are more vulnerable to routing attacks as compared to other networks. Wormhole attack is one of the most severe routing attacks, which is easy to implement but hard to detect. Normally, it works in two steps; in the first step, the wormhole nodes attract more and more traffic towards them through the wormhole channel, and in the second step, they start harming the network by modifying or dropping the network traffic. Several authors have proposed different solutions to counter wormhole attacks in MANETs. In this paper, we thoroughly analyze these existing techniques on the basis of their limitations as well as features that are vital in detecting wormhole attacks in MANETs. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.