Securing Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular networks are very likely to be deployed in the coming years and thus become the most relevant form of mobile ad hoc networks. In this paper, we address the security of these networks. We provide a detailed threat analysis and devise an appropriate security architecture. We also describe some major design decisions still to be made, which in some cases have more than mere technical implications. We provide a set of security protocols, we show that they protect privacy and we analyze their robustness and efficiency

Security Aspects of Inter-Vehicle Communications

Inter-Vehicular Communications (IVC) are a cornerstone of the future intelligent transportation systems. A crucial enabling component of IVC is its security and privacy. Indeed, as vehicular computing systems become interconnected, there will be new venues for attackers to exploit system vulnerabilities. In addition, proper security mechanisms can assist in law enforcement and automate payment operations, such as toll collection. Leveraging on experience gained from other networks like the Internet or wireless LANs, system security for vehicular networks has to be introduced in the design phase. In the following sections, we outline several security threats encountered in IVC, then we present the obstacles needed to overcome in order to cope with these threats. Finally, we describe several tools that will be helpful in building secure IVC networks

On the Tradeoff between Trust and Privacy in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

As privacy moves to the center of attention in networked systems, and the need for trust remains a necessity, an important question arises: How do we reconcile the two seemingly contradicting requirements? In this paper, we show that the notion of data-centric trust can considerably alleviate the tension, although at the cost of pooling contributions from several entities. Hence, assuming an environment of privacy-preserving entities, we provide and analyze a game-theoretic model of the trust-privacy tradeoff. The results prove that the use of incentives allows for building trust while keeping the privacy loss minimal. To illustrate our analysis, we describe how the trust-privacy tradeoff can be optimized for the revocation of misbehaving nodes in an ad hoc network

Efficient secure aggregation in VANETs

In VANETs, better communication efficiency can be achieved by sacrificing security and vice versa. But VANETs cannot get started without either of them. In this paper, we propose a set of mechanisms that can actually reconcile these two contradictory requirements. The main idea is to use message aggregation and group communication. The first class of solutions is based on asymmetric cryptographic primitives, the second class uses symmetric ones, and the third one mixes the two. We have also evaluated the performance potential of one technique and arrived at the conclusion that aggregation in VANETs increases not only efficiency but also security

Revocation Games in Ephemeral Networks

A frequently proposed solution to node misbehavior in mobile ad hoc networks is to use reputation systems. But in ephemeral networks - a new breed of mobile networks where contact times between nodes are short and neighbors change frequently - reputations are hard to build. In this case, local revocation is a faster and more efficient alternative. In this paper, we define a game-theoretic model to analyze the various local revocation strategies. We establish and prove the conditions leading to subgame- perfect equilibria. We also derive the optimal parameters for voting-based schemes. Then we design a protocol based on our analysis and the practical aspects that cannot be captured in the model. With realistic simulations on ephemeral networks we compare the performance and economic costs of the different techniques

Mix-Zones for Location Privacy in Vehicular Networks

Vehicular Networks (VNs) seek to provide, among other applications, safer driving conditions. To do so, vehicles need to periodically broadcast safety messages providing precise position information to nearby vehicles. However, this frequent messaging (e.g., every 100 to 300ms per car) greatly facilitates the tracking of vehicles, as it suffices to eavesdrop the wireless medium. As a result, the drivers privacy is at stake. In order to mitigate this threat, while complying with the safety requirements of VNs, we suggest the creation of mix-zones at appropriate places of the VN. We propose to do so with the use of cryptography, and study analytically how the combination of mix-zones into mix-networks brings forth location privacy in VNs. Finally, we show by simulations that the proposed mix system is effective in various scenarios

TraNS: Realistic Joint Traffic and Network Simulator for VANETs

Realistic simulation is a necessary tool for the proper evaluation of newly developed protocols for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). Several recent efforts focus on achieving this goal. Yet, to this date, none of the proposed solutions fulfill all the requirements of the VANET environment. This is so mainly because road traffic and communication network simulators evolve in disjoint research communities. We are developing TraNS, an open-source simulation environment, as a step towards bridging this gap. This short paper describes the TraNS architecture and our ongoing development efforts

SEVECOM - Secure Vehicle Communication

Vehicle to Vehicle communication (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure communication (V2I) promise to improve road safety and optimize road traffic through cooperative systems applications. A prerequisite for the successful deployment of vehicular communications is to make them secure. The specific operational environment (moving vehicles, sporadic connectivity, etc. ) makes the problem very novel and challenging. Because of the challenges, a research and development road map is needed. We consider SEVECOM [1] to be the first phase of a longer term undertaking. In this first phase, we aim to define a consistent and future-proof solution to the problem of V2V/V2I security. SEVECOM will focus on communications specific to road traffic. This includes messages related to traffic information, anonymous safety-related messages, and liability related messages