An anonymous data access scheme for VANET using pseudonym-based cryptography

Abstract

Vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) is an emerging technology which can offer a wide variety of promising applications, such as safety-related and infotainment applications. However, VANET also raises important security and privacy concerns that must be properly addressed for widespread deployment. In this paper, we first proposed a provable secure pseudonym-based cryptosystem with a trusted authority, including a pseudonym-based encryption scheme, a pseudonym-based multi-receiver encryption scheme, a pseudonym-based signature scheme, and a pseudonym-based one-pass key establishment protocol. We then presented a secure and efficient data access scheme for VANET based on cooperative caching technology and the proposed pseudonym-based cryptosystem. The efficiency of data access was greatly improved by allowing the sharing and coordination of cached data among multiple vehicles, and the anonymity of vehicles, data confidentiality, integrity and non-repudiation were guaranteed by employing the proposed pseudonym-based cryptosystem. Simulation results have shown that the proposed data access scheme is suitable to the VANET environment.