Literature review on network security in Wireless Mobile Ad-hoc Network for IoT applications: network attacks and detection mechanisms

Purpose Nowadays, more interest is found among the researchers in MANETs in practical and theoretical areas and their performance under various environments. WSNs have begun to combine with the IoT via the sensing capability of Internet-connected devices and the Internet access ability of sensor nodes. It is essential to shelter the network from attacks over the Internet by keeping the secure router. Design/methodology/approach This paper plans to frame an effective literature review on diverse intrusion detection and prevention systems in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) highly suitable for security in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The literature review is focused on various types of attacks concentrated in each contribution and the adoption of prevention and mitigation models are observed. In addition, the types of the dataset used, types of attacks concentrated, types of tools used for implementation, and performance measures analyzed in each contribution are analyzed. Finally, an attempt is made to conclude the review with several future research directions in designing and implementing IDS for MANETs that preserve the security aspects of IoT. Findings It observed the different attack types focused on every contribution and the adoption of prevention and mitigation models. Additionally, the used dataset types, the focused attack types, the tool types used for implementation, and the performance measures were investigated in every contribution. Originality/value This paper presents a literature review on diverse contributions of attack detection and prevention, and the stand of different machine learning and deep learning models along with the analysis of types of the dataset used, attacks concentrated, tools used for implementation and performance measures on the network security for IoT applications.