A secure payment system for multimedia on demand on mobile VANET clouds

The more recent advances in network communication and cloud computing technologies have the potential of significantly improving traveling experience by providing value-added services, such as multimedia on demand (MoD), in vehicular ad hoc networks, where the involved vehicles are provided with enough communication, storage, and computing capabilities. In this scenario, despite many consolidated mobile cloud solutions and pay-per-view systems have been developed and widely deployed in public transportation, the security and privacy of mobile users, mainly concerning the association between users' identities and requested multimedia contents, still presents several open challenges. Mainly, providing pay-per-view services in vehicular clouds while protecting the passenger's anonymity and simultaneously ensuring the robustness of the payment system has become an important issue. Accordingly, we present a novel smart card-based MoD payment solution, to be used in mobile cloud-empowered public transportation systems, that not only guarantees the passenger's anonymity but also uses a personal trusted device to protect the passenger's sensitive information so that he can enjoy the multimedia contents during the long hours of travel. In the future, such scheme can become common practice on MoD-related equipment in vehicular ad hoc networks, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of public transport companies. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.