18-05-2012, 12:03 PM
Securing Vehicular Communications
[attachment=22330]
INTRODUCTION
Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) are a new technology
that has recently drawn the attention of the industry and
academia. Vehicular communications (VC) lie at the core of
a number of research initiatives that aim to enhance safety
and efficiency of transportation systems; with envisioned applications
providing, for example, warnings on environmental
hazards (e.g., ice on the pavement), traffic and road conditions
(e.g., emergency braking, congestion, or construction sites),
and local (e.g., tourist) information. In fact, vehicular networks
emerge, among civilian communication systems, as one of the
most convincing and yet most challenging instantiations of the
mobile ad hoc networking technology.
SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
The unique features of VC are a double-edged sword: a rich
set of tools are offered to drivers and authorities (defined in
Sec. III) but a formidable set of abuses and attacks becomes
possible. Consider, for example, nodes that ’contaminate’ large
portions of the vehicular network with false information: a
single vehicle can transmit false hazard warnings (e.g., ice
formation on the pavement), which can then be taken up by
all vehicles in both traffic streams.
SYSTEM MODEL
A vehicular communications system comprises a number
of interacting entities that we classify broadly as: (i) Users,
(ii) Network nodes, and (iii) Authorities. An illustration of the
system, depicting some basic only communication and security
operational aspects, is shown in Fig. 1.
Our focus is on the network operation and the communication
of the computing devices, i.e., largely, the network
nodes that we define more precisely below. Nevertheless, users
(that is, individuals operating vehicles) are instrumental in
determining the vehicle behavior and the overall transportation
system operation, and thus warrant a distinction.
COMMUNICATION MODEL
In this section, we model the wireless communication in
vehicular networks, whose connectivity and membership can
change frequently, and so does the network area reachable by
each node. We focus mainly on the data link layer, and then
discuss other considerations. We model the communication
by the following data-link (denoted by the subscript L) layer
primitives and assumptions, for some radius R and time τ:
i. SendL(V,m): transmits message m to node V within
radius R of the transmitting node.
ii. BcastL(m): broadcasts message m to all nodes within
radius R of the transmitting node
[attachment=22330]
INTRODUCTION
Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) are a new technology
that has recently drawn the attention of the industry and
academia. Vehicular communications (VC) lie at the core of
a number of research initiatives that aim to enhance safety
and efficiency of transportation systems; with envisioned applications
providing, for example, warnings on environmental
hazards (e.g., ice on the pavement), traffic and road conditions
(e.g., emergency braking, congestion, or construction sites),
and local (e.g., tourist) information. In fact, vehicular networks
emerge, among civilian communication systems, as one of the
most convincing and yet most challenging instantiations of the
mobile ad hoc networking technology.
SECURITY REQUIREMENTS
The unique features of VC are a double-edged sword: a rich
set of tools are offered to drivers and authorities (defined in
Sec. III) but a formidable set of abuses and attacks becomes
possible. Consider, for example, nodes that ’contaminate’ large
portions of the vehicular network with false information: a
single vehicle can transmit false hazard warnings (e.g., ice
formation on the pavement), which can then be taken up by
all vehicles in both traffic streams.
SYSTEM MODEL
A vehicular communications system comprises a number
of interacting entities that we classify broadly as: (i) Users,
(ii) Network nodes, and (iii) Authorities. An illustration of the
system, depicting some basic only communication and security
operational aspects, is shown in Fig. 1.
Our focus is on the network operation and the communication
of the computing devices, i.e., largely, the network
nodes that we define more precisely below. Nevertheless, users
(that is, individuals operating vehicles) are instrumental in
determining the vehicle behavior and the overall transportation
system operation, and thus warrant a distinction.
COMMUNICATION MODEL
In this section, we model the wireless communication in
vehicular networks, whose connectivity and membership can
change frequently, and so does the network area reachable by
each node. We focus mainly on the data link layer, and then
discuss other considerations. We model the communication
by the following data-link (denoted by the subscript L) layer
primitives and assumptions, for some radius R and time τ:
i. SendL(V,m): transmits message m to node V within
radius R of the transmitting node.
ii. BcastL(m): broadcasts message m to all nodes within
radius R of the transmitting node