To sustain the security services in a Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET), applications in terms of confidentially, authentication, integrity, authorization, key management, and abnormal behavior detection/anomaly detection are significant. The implementation of a sophisticated security mechanism requires a large number of network resources that degrade network performance. In addition, routing protocols designed for MANETs should be energy efficient in order to maximize network performance. In line with this view, this work proposes a new hybrid method called the data-driven zone-based routing protocol (DD-ZRP) for resource-constrained MANETs that incorporate anomaly detection schemes for security and energy awareness using Network Simulator 3. Most of the existing schemes use constant threshold values, which leads to false positive issues in the network. DD-ZRP uses a dynamic threshold to detect anomalies in MANETs. The simulation results show an improved detection ratio and performance for DD-ZRP over existing schemes; the method is substantially better than the prevailing protocols with respect to anomaly detection for security enhancement, energy efficiency, and optimization of available resources
