A method includes identifying a potentially malicious node using a rating assigned to nodes within the network and decrementing the rating based on detected dropped messages to identify a potentially malicious node. The malicious node is identified based on location information obtained from the nodes within the network and comparable distances from the potentially malicious node. The method further includes ending communications with the malicious node and selecting a new parent node based on a presumption that any of the plurality of nodes other than the malicious node are non-malicious.