Privacy Issues for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Network

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks are networks of communication between vehicles and roadside units. These networks have the potential to increase safety and provide many services to drivers, but they also present risks to privacy. Researching mechanisms to protect privacy requires two key ingredients: 1. a precise definition of privacy that reflects citizens’ concerns and perceptions, and 2. an understanding of the type of attacks in VANETs. In this research, we formulate a workable definition of privacy, and focus on tracking attacks, which we found to be lacking. Although considerable research has been performed in tracking none of the published solutions ensures full protection. We propose to combine a set of published solutions, namely: Mix Zones, Silent Periods, and Group Signatures in order to improve the privacy of drivers. Vehicles enter a region where, vehicles change their pseudonyms (Mix Zone) as well as network addresses; next enter the silent period, and then use one group key for communication. It could help make tracking more difficult and increase the safety and confidence of drivers using VANETs.