SSKM: Scalable and secure key management scheme for group signature based authentication and CRL in VANET

Abstract

The security in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) has become a large consideration in safeguarding growing applications and intelligent transport systems. A group signature, a popular authentication approach for VANETs, can be implemented to protect vehicular communications against malicious users. However, the issue of securely distributing group keys to fast-moving vehicular nodes arises. The growing size of the certificate revocation list (CRL) has provided the corresponding complication in its management and distribution in VANETs. In this paper, an efficient key management protocol for group signature based authentication is proposed. A group is extended to a domain with various roadside units forming a hierarchical topology. Our proposed scheme provides a secure method to deliver group keys to vehicular nodes, ensuring the security requirements. Similarly, through utilizing the two Bloom filters in our hierarchical topology, an efficient and scalable vehicle revocation mechanism can be achieved that can minimize the CRL size. Our experiment results demonstrate a scalable, efficient, and secure key distribution scheme in vehicular networking. Moreover, an effective CRL management mechanism can be accomplished using the hierarchical topology. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.