A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is an autonomous network developed using wireless mobile nodes without the support of any kind of infrastructure. In a MANET, nodes can communicate with each other freely and dynamically. However, MANETs are prone to serious security threats that are difficult to resist using the existing security approaches. Therefore, various secure routing protocols have been developed to strengthen the security of MANETs. In this paper, a secure and energy-efficient routing protocol is proposed by using group key management. Asymmetric key cryptography is used, which involves two specialized nodes, labeled the Calculator Key (CK) and the Distribution Key (DK). These two nodes are responsible for the generation, verification, and distribution of secret keys. As a result, other nodes need not perform any kind of additional computation for building the secret keys. These nodes are selected using the energy consumption and trust values of nodes. In most of the existing routing protocols, each node is responsible for the generation and distribution of its own secret keys, which results in more energy dissemination. Moreover, if any node is compromised, security breaches should occur. When nodes other than the CK and DK are compromised, the entire network’s security is not jeopardized. Extensive experiments are performed by considering the existing and the proposed protocols. Performance analyses reveal that the proposed protocol outperforms the competitive protocols.

The Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a network that does not have a fixed infrastructure. Migratory routes and related hosts that are connected via wireless networks self-configure it. Routers and hosts are free to wander, and nodes can change the topology fast and unexpectedly. In emergencies, such as natural/human disasters, armed conflicts, and emergencies, the lowest configuration will ensure ad hoc network applicability. Due to the rapidly rising cellular service requirements and deployment demands, mobile ad-hoc networks have been established in numerous places in recent decades. These applications include topics such as environmental surveillance and others. The underlying routing protocol in a given context has a significant impact on the ad hoc network deployment power. To satisfy the needs of the service level and efficiently meet the deployment requirements, developing a practical and secure MANET routing protocol is a critical task. However, owing to the intrinsic characteristics of ad hoc networks, such as frequent topology changes, open wireless media and limited resources, developing a safe routing protocol is difficult. Therefore, it is vital to develop stable and dependable routing protocols for MANET to provide a better packet delivery relationship, fewer delays, and lower overheads. Because the stability of nodes along this trail is variable, the route discovered cannot be trusted. This paper proposes an efficient Neighbour Feedback-based Trusted Multi Authenticated Node (NFbTMAN) Routing Model. The proposed model is compared to traditional models, and the findings reveal that the proposed model is superior in terms of data security.