Mobile ad hoc networking may be used to accomplish different tasks at several applications fields with a variety of purposes as healthy care, defense, crisis management and others emergence situations. In common, they all require quick deployment, dynamic communication and security assurance. Although a lot of effort has been taken concerning the security aspect, it is hard to achieve information-theoretically security at such kind of network. The usual way to conceive a secure network is to adopt perfectly secure encryption algorithms, secure protocols, and intrusion detection methods. Nevertheless, the network is still susceptible to attacks due to bad-implemented software and information leakage from social engineering. Once the adversary gathers the key(s) to access the network, it is able not only to eavesdrop sensitive information but also to mislead the users or even harm the network. That is what makes so desirable to identify adversaries before they become active. The present paper addresses the security aspect on mobile ad hoc networks through the combination of different techniques. The situational awareness is increased through the design of an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that enhances the mobile network security using a secondary network of sensors, multilateration, predictive location algorithm, and information sharing protocol. A military tactical scenario was selected to proof the concept of the designed IDS though the use of simulation using three distinct software tools.
