PPT-AMA: Privacy Protection and Traceability Anonymous Mutual Authentication Protocol for Heterogeneous Vehicular Networks

Abstract

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV), as a key component of smart cities, plays a pivotal role in vehicle coordination and intelligent transportation systems. However, with the rapid advancement of IoV technology, the growing threat of network attacks has heightened the demand for enhanced security and privacy protection. Owing to the heterogeneous nature of devices within the IoV, which often employ different cryptographic systems, traditional authentication mechanisms face limitations in verifying the legitimacy of such heterogeneous devices. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a privacy protection and traceability anonymous mutual authentication protocol for heterogeneous vehicular networks (PPT-AMA). PPT-AMA can realize mutual identity verification and session key agreement between the vehicle in the certificateless cryptosystem and the roadside unit in the identity-based cryptosystem to ensure the secure transmission of private data. Moreover, by providing traceable pseudonyms and anonymous authentication for each vehicle, PPT-AMA protects vehicle privacy while preventing attackers from tracking vehicle information through public information such as public keys or identities. Under the discrete logarithm and computational Diffie-Hellman assumption, PPT-AMA is shown to meet various security requirements, including perfect forwards secrecy and known session-specific temporary information security. The performance evaluation, which is based on theoretical analysis and simulation experiments, demonstrates approximately 32.50% improvement in computational efficiency over existing schemes, highlighting the protocol’s potential for practical application.