# On the Security of Warning Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes the security of message dissemination in vehicular ad hoc networks, focusing on how malicious vehicles can tamper with messages and how network topology affects message integrity.

## Contribution

It develops an analytical framework to evaluate message delivery probability in the presence of malicious vehicles, validated by simulations.

## Key findings

- Network topology influences message delivery success.
- Malicious vehicle distribution impacts message integrity.
- The framework aids in designing better security mechanisms.

## Abstract

Information security is an important issue in vehicular networks as the accuracy and integrity of information is a prerequisite to satisfactory performance of almost all vehicular network applications. In this paper, we study the information security of a vehicular ad hoc network whose message may be tampered by malicious vehicles. An analytical framework is developed to analyze the process of message dissemination in a vehicular network with malicious vehicles randomly distributed in the network. The probability that a destination vehicle at a fixed distance away can receive the message correctly from the source vehicle is obtained. Simulations are conducted to validate the accuracy of the theoretical analysis. Our results demonstrate the impact of network topology and the distribution of malicious vehicles on the correct delivery of a message in vehicular ad hoc networks, and may provide insight on the design of security mechanisms to improve the security of message dissemination in vehicular networks.