Security requirements and solution concepts in vehicular ad hoc networks

Inter-vehicle communication is one of the most challenging research areas for communication in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks. The main benefit of this kind of communication is seen in active safety systems, which aim at increasing passengers' safety by exchanging warning messages between vehicles. In the past few years, considerable effort has been spent in research on networking protocols and applications, however research on security threats and solutions only started recently. In this paper, we elaborate on security issues in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) regarding active safety applications. We provide an overview on solution concepts and evaluate requirements of corresponding mechanisms. One conclusion is that although some concepts can be viewed as strong solutions from a network point of view, they do not fit into the design constraints of VANETs. Therefore, less secure mechanisms will probably have to suffice