A group key agreement protocol for VANET based on Chinese Remainder
Theorem and Blockchain
Abstract
As a wireless ad hoc network, VANET is susceptible to various threats
including eavesdropping and tampering, due to its insecure wireless
channels. The group key agreement protocol is widely used in VANET due
to its ability to allow participants to communicate securely in insecure
network environments. However, excessive reliance on trusted authority
(TA) in traditional group key protocols may cause single point of
failure. Additionally, having a high computational and communication
cost is a common phenomenon in existing protocols. To address the above
issues, we have designed a lightweight group key agreement protocol
using blockchain technology and Chinese remainder theorem(CRT). In our
protocol, the blockchain technology is used to facilitate faster
negotiation of group key between Roadside Units (RSUs) and vehicles
within its communication range. To avoid Single point of failure, TA
only provides services during the user joining and leaving phase. To
reduce computational and communication costs during the identity
authentication process, RSU can perform batch authentication on
vehicles. At the same time, participating vehicles only need to obtain
the correct session key from the return message broadcasted by the RSU.
Our protocol also supports dynamic management of vehicles. We used
formal security proof and performance analysis in our scheme, indicating
that our scheme meets the basic security requirements of the block key
protocol design in VANET. Meanwhile, the analysis of computational costs
and communication burden shows that our scheme is more effective in
VANET group scenarios.