An Efficient Identity-Based Signature Scheme for Vehicular Communications

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are an emerging type of networks which facilitates vehicles on roads to communicate for driving safety. The concern of security and privacy is raised in this scene. Messages should be signed and verified before they are trusted while the real identity of vehicles should be anonymous, and should be traceable by the authorized party when accident investigation. In this paper, an efficient identity-based signature scheme for VANETs, named EIBS, is proposed. The scheme combined identity-based signature with pseudonymous authentication scheme, providing strong privacy preservation for vehicles. EIBS also supports Roadside Units aided distributed authentication service that allows the vehicles to update credentials on road, reducing the overload of trusted authority. The security analysis shows that it is hard to trace any vehicle for the adversaries even if all Roadside Units had been compromised.