Location privacy protection scheme based on self-organizing cryptographic mix-zone in VANETs

Abstract

How to ensure the location privacy of vehicles has become an important security issue of VANETS.
One of the effective mechanisms to protect the vehicles’ location privacy is replacing the pseudonym
to achieve unlinkability with the help of road side unit (RSU). This paper takes the scenario into account
where RSUs have not yet been deployed widely. When a vehicle wants to change pseudonym,
it transmits group keys in a collaborative manner and creates encrypted areas with surrounding vehicles.
At this point, the external attackers cannot crack any information in this area, the cryptographic
mix-zone. During this period, some vehicles will be replaced with new pseudonyms. The external
attackers are not able to associate the pseudonyms with the old ones to achieve the goal of location
privacy protection of the vehicles.