An OpenRBAC Semantic Model for Access Control in Vehicular Networks

Inter-vehicle communication has the potential to significantly improve driving safety, but also raises security concerns. The fundamental mechanism to govern information sharing behaviors is access control. Since vehicular networks have a highly dynamic and open nature, access control becomes very challenging. Existing works are not applicable to the vehicular world. In this paper, we develop a new access control model, openRBAC, and the corresponding mechanisms for access control in vehicular systems. Our approach lets the accessee define a relative role hierarchy, specifying all potential accessor roles in terms of their relative perception to the accessees. Access control policies are defined for the relative roles in the hierarchy. Since the accessee has a clear understanding of the relative roles defined by itself, the policy definitions can be precise and less flawed.