Conditional pseudonymity in vehicular ad hoc networks

Privacy is an important issue in future vehicle networks, because vehicles broadcast detailed information. Also of importance is accountability due to safety critical applications. Conditional pseudonymity, i.e., the usage of resolvable pseudonyms, is a common approach to address both. However, such conditional resolvability of pseudonyms is often realized by authorities maintaining pseudonym-identity mappings. These mappings are privacy sensitive and require drivers to trust authorities that the information is properly protected to prevent involuntary leakage and is not misused. This thesis outlines a new approach for conditional pseudonymity that does not rely on pseudonym-identity mappings to be stored by any party. Resolution information is directly embedded in pseudonyms and can only be accessed when multiple authorities cooperate for identity resolution. Our privacy-preserving pseudonym issuance protocol ensures that pseudonyms contain valid resolution information but prevents issuing authorities from creating pseudonym-identity mappings