An Efficient Message Authentication Scheme Based on Edge Computing for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

With the progress in wireless communication technology and the increasing number of vehicles, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have become essential for improving road conditions and enhancing driving experience. The core of the VANETs is the communication between different vehicles, and the security of the communication is based on message authentication. Several schemes have been designed to enhance the efficiency of message authentication. However, these schemes have the disadvantage of redundant authentication, i.e., repeated authentication of the same message, and fail to seek invalid messages from the batch of messages. To solve these problems, this paper introduces a novel edge-computing concept into the message-authentication process of VANETs. In our scheme, the roadside unit can efficiently authenticate messages from nearby vehicles and broadcast the authentication results to the vehicles within its communication range, thereby reducing redundant authentication and enhancing the efficiency of the entire system. The security analysis results show that the proposed scheme satisfies the security requirements of the VANETs. The performance analysis results show that the proposed scheme can not only work well in an ideal environment where the attacker is absent but also capable of quickly identifying valid and invalid messages even if the VANET is attacked.