Aggregation and probabilistic verification for data authentication in VANETs

Vehicular ad hoc networks are wireless networks in which traffic information is distributed from many sources to many destinations. Thus, their deployment requires data authentication mechanisms to detect any malicious behavior of users, such as modification or replay attacks. In this work we describe a new data aggregation protocol for such networks, which uses probabilistic verification to detect those attacks efficiently with minimal overhead and delay. The proposed algorithm also contains an additional security mechanism based on reactive groups created on demand, which ensures a priori that vehicles generate trustworthy information. This paper also provides a comprehensive analysis that includes NS2 simulations and a small-scale implementation with real devices, which show that the proposed protocol is robust.