Anonymous Message Authentication Using Modified Random Secret Pre-distribution for VANETs under Sparse RSUs Environment

Abstract

In this paper, the chameleon hash function (CHF) and modified random secret pre-distribution (MRSP) will be combined in a secure scheme for authenticating messages in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs). Based on the secrets in the CHF, a trusted authorizer (TA) can issue identities to all RSUs and vehicles. An identity contains one public ID and one private key. The vehicles use the public ID and the private key to ask RSUs for MRSP information. Using the MRSP information, the vehicles can ask other RSUs for new MRSP information in the next time slot, or exchange the information about index set of random secret to build a neighbor set without any negotiation. To generate MRSP information, a pseudo random number generator (PRNG) is maintained by every RSU. A seed value of a PRNG is broadcast by TA in every time slot to generate a common secret pool in every RSU. This paper proposes a fully anonymous message authentication scheme. Based on the results of security analysis and performance evaluation, the proposed scheme outperforms other works.