Lightweight Authentication Mechanisms for Privacy Preservation in VANETs

Abstract

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) rely on fast and secure authentication mechanisms to ensure message legitimacy, user privacy, and system scalability. However, traditional Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and certificate-based authentication models impose substantial overhead and compromise location privacy. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of lightweight cryptographic approaches designed to preserve privacy while maintaining efficiency in VANETs. We classify existing protocols by cryptographic family, trust management design, and privacy-preserving capabilities. A detailed comparative framework evaluates five representative schemes—PB-PKI-VLR, IBACP, GST, CL-ECC, and BAPS—based on authentication delay, privacy score, and overhead. Simulation results demonstrate that certificate less ECC achieves the best balance between security, latency, and anonymity. The paper concludes with a discussion on deployment challenges and future directions for scalable, privacyaware vehicular authentication.