Unmasking Deception in VANETs: A Decentralized Approach to Verifying Truth in Motion

VANET, which stands for Vehicular Ad Hoc Network, is a wireless network that allows vehicles to communicate with each other and with infrastructure, such as Roadside Units (RSUs), with the aim of enhancing road safety and improving the overall driving experience through real-time exchange of information and data. VANET has various applications, including traffic management, road safety alerts, and navigation. However, the security of VANET can be compromised if a malicious user alters the content of messages transmitted, which can harm both individual vehicles and the overall trust in VANET technology. Ensuring the correctness of messages is crucial for the success of VANET, as fake messages pose a threat to traffic safety, human lives, and the credibility of VANET. This poster presents a novel framework for efficiently identifying vehicles that spread fake messages in VANET. The framework divides messages into two categories, urgent and non-urgent, and handles them using a decentralized priority queue consisting of trusted RSUs. The RSUs register dynamic security keys of the vehicles and broadcast the valid ones in their range for quick message exchange. The simulation results show that the framework is scalable and can efficiently identify vehicles that spread fake messages while providing secure communication and guaranteeing the QoS requirements of safety-related VANET applications.https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/gradposters2023_sciences/1009/thumbnail.jp