PUF-based privacy protection method in VANET environment

Abstract

The information and communication technology industry has brought about change in everyday lives, including cars, creating a Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). VANET refers to communication between cars during operation that allows exchanges of messages on traffic information, general safety or responsibility measures to make it safer and more convenient for drivers. Such messages can include personal information and thus, if exposed to malicious attackers can lead to a violation of privacy. Physical Unclonable Functions(PUF) is a challenge-response system where reproduction is impossible due to the inherent physical characteristics gained during the Integrated Circuits (ICs) processing. This paper suggests a protocol that distributes session keys by carrying out the handover and mutual authentication based on PUF without exposing the ID of the car to protect the driver’s privacy.