LEAP:VANET: A lightweight and efficient authentication protocol for intelligent transportation system using VANET

Abstract

Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) are an important component of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). However, the wireless communication environment of the networks is exposed to impersonation, replay, and privacy attacks. The authentication protocols designed for the networks are associated with high computational costs, weak binding of the authentication protocol with the session key, and the use of plaintext identity. Hence, this paper introduces LEAP-VANET, a lightweight and efficient authentication protocol designed specifically for VANETs. The proposed protocol is based on the SHA-256 hashing algorithm and the XOR operation. The Real-or-Random (RoR) model is used for the security analysis of the protocol under the Canetti-Krawczyk (CK) model. The simulation results obtained by ProVerif show that the protocol is secure against replay attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and desynchronization attacks. The proposed protocol ensures unlinkability under the semi-honest model and provides forward secrecy. Performance evaluation of the scheme on heterogeneous hardware shows significant improvements in terms of 82.4% reduction in computation time (4.59 ms total time), 29.5% reduction in communication overhead (5024 bits), 43.5% reduction in storage requirements (2176 bits), and 99.9% reduction in energy consumption (0.16 mJ) compared to prior works. The comprehensive comparative analysis validates the performance consistency across different network conditions and demonstrates the effectiveness of LEAP-VANET as a viable solution for resource-constrained VANET environments without compromising security and privacy concerns.