A Security and Privacy Review of VANETs

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have stimulated interest in both academic and industry settings because, once deployed, they would bring a new driving experience to drivers. However, communicating in an open-access environment makes security and privacy issues a real challenge, which may affect the large-scale deployment of VANETs. Researchers have proposed many solutions to these issues. We start this paper by providing background information of VANETs and classifying security threats that challenge VANETs. After clarifying the requirements that the proposed solutions to security and privacy problems in VANETs should meet, on the one hand, we present the general secure process and point out authentication methods involved in these processes. Detailed survey of these authentication algorithms followed by discussions comes afterward. On the other hand, privacy preserving methods are reviewed, and the tradeoff between security and privacy is discussed. Finally, we provide an outlook on how to detect and revoke malicious nodes more efficiently and challenges that have yet been solved.

I. Introduction

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are distributed, self-organized networks built up by many high-speed vehicles. All vehicles in the network would install onboard units (OBU), which would integrate the vehicles' wireless communications, micro-sensors, embedded systems, and Global Positioning System (GPS) [1]. These smart vehicles could then communicate with each other as well as with roadside units (RSU), such as traffic lights or traffic signs, which would then improve the driving experience and make driving safer [2]– [4]. For example, vehicles could exchange messages concerning real-time traffic conditions so that drivers would be more aware of their driving environment and take early action in response to an unusual situation [5].