Trust propagation in small worlds

Abstract

The possibility of a massive, networked infrastructure of diverse entities partaking in collaborative applications with each other increases more and more with the proliferation of mobile devices and the development of ad hoc networking technologies. In this context, traditional security measures do not scale well. We aim to develop trust-based security mechanisms using small world concepts to optimise formation and propagation of trust amongst entities in these vast networks. In this regard, we surmise that in a very large mobile ad hoc network, trust, risk, and recommendations can be propagated through relatively short paths connecting entities. Our work describes the design of trust-formation and risk-assessment systems, as well as that of an entity recognition scheme, within the context of the small world network topology. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.