A Novel Computationally Efficient Group Signature for Anonymous and Secure V2X Communications

TL;DR

This paper introduces the AEE protocol, a computationally efficient group signature scheme for V2X communications that ensures data authenticity, user privacy, and resistance to Sybil attacks through event-based linking and temporary keys.

Contribution

It proposes a novel, efficient group signature protocol tailored for V2X, combining event-based unlinkability with reduced computational overhead via offline cryptographic operations.

Findings

Provides event-based linkability to prevent Sybil attacks

Reduces computational and transmission overhead with temporary keys

Enables offline cryptographic processing for real-time efficiency

Abstract

The use of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is expected to significantly improve road safety and traffic management. We present an efficient protocol, called the AEE protocol, for protecting data authenticity and user privacy in V2X applications. Our protocol provides event-based likability, which enables messages from a subject vehicle to be linked to a specific event in order to prevent Sybil attacks. Messages on different events are unlinkable to preserve the long-term privacy of vehicles. Moreover, our protocol introduces a new method for generating temporary public keys to reduce computing and transmission overheads. Such a temporary public key is bound with a certain event and is automatically revoked when the event is over. We describe how to apply our protocol in vehicular communications using two exemplar use cases. To further reduce the real-time computational complexity, our protocol enables us to decompose the cryptographic operations into offline processes for complex operations and real-time processes for fast computations.