aml1205 16 | 1
Jun 21, 2011 | #1
ANOTHER ONE OF MY MASTERPIECES...AN ONGOING DISSERTATION..
Order No. 1921421326, ORDERED AND NOT ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY Patrick Sevwou
Literature review:
Vehicular ad hoc networks (or VANETs) face a variety of risks with the services they provide.
The 2 most common risks are in the aspects of security and privacy.
With regard to security, VANETs can be exploited to send out bogus information and cheat other
vehicles. This may be done for the purpose of either clearing up one's own way or throwing
another vehicle out of its way by means of false traffic reports. Criminals and terrorist can send
out false information to other vehicles for the purpose of blocking police cars or creating
collisions through conflicting traffic reports. Needless to say, this can lead to losses in property
and lives (Zhang).
On the aspect of privacy, VANETs allow access to information on speed, status, trajectories and
locations of the vehicles within its range. This kind of information may be exploited by observers
to draw conclusions about a driver's personality, lifestyle and social relationships. This kind of
information may be further traded in underground markets exposing both vehicles and drivers to
harassment, blackmail and other dangers (Zhang).
There are also some technical challenges that need to be addressed:
- The lack of a centralized infrastructure for synchronization and coordination in the
transmission of messages equates to an excessive use of bandwidth;
- The current decentralized and self-organizing networks are subject to high node mobility,
solution scalability requirements and a variety of environmental conditions;
- The radio channels used in VANETs, which are necessary for wireless communications, create
weak and bad quality signals;
- The networks within a VANET have to operate with many different brands of equipment and
vehicle manufacturers, which is difficult without standard communications;
- Safety related information need to be processed and exchanged quickly;
- The node to node connections leave nodes dependent on other nodes to make decisions, and leave any node in a position to ask for information or distribute the same depending on the situation (Vehicular ad hoc networks call for papers).
There have been a few solutions proposed to address some of the above issues. However, none of
these solutions are full proof and leave other issues still to be addressed.
Efficient and secure threshold-based event validation - this means that the number of vehicles
reporting an event will be limited. Many applications rely on a threshold for the purpose of
reaching an agreement among the vehicles involved, to determine the validity of a report and to
prevent the abuse of emergency alarms (Hsiao et al, 2011).
VANET alert endorsement via multisource filters - this means proposing a security model
wherein spurious messages can be weeded out from the legitimate ones. This model leverages
multiple sources of information which become a part of a multi-source detection model that
alerts drivers only after a percent of sources come to an agreement. This filtering model has 2
main components - a threshold curve and a Certainty of Event (or CoE) curve. The first refers to
the importance of a report to a driver depending on his position, while the second refers to the
confidence level put on received messages. When the CoE goes beyond a threshold, an alert is
triggered (Kim et al, 2010).
Privacy preserving VANET - this is a mechanism for authenticating messages, and separating the
legitimate from the illegitimate vehicles. A Public Key Infrastructure (or PKI) can satisfy these
functions via certificates and fixed public keys. A Temporary Anonymous Certified Keys (or
TACKS) is recommended to prevent eavesdroppers from linking to a vehicle's different keys,
promptly removing misbehaving drivers while not adding to the overhead for communication
among vehicles (Studer et al, 2009).
DOS Resilient VANET authentication - in the past, TESLA was used as an alternative to
signatures. It used symmetric cryptography with delayed key disclosure. This was to provide the
needed asymmetry to prove that the sender and the source of the message were the same. Symmetric cryptography is faster than signatures, thereby making TESLA immune to computational DOS attacks. The same cannot be said for memory-based DOS attacks. In the
latter, receivers store data until the corresponding key is disclosed. Attackers can send out a
million invalid messages with no corresponding key disclosure thereby polluting the receivers.
The TESLA++ was proposed to address the need for reduced memory requirements (Studer et al,
2008).
Now there is the VAST (or VANET Authentication using Signatures and TESLA++). This joins
the benefits of Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (or ECDSA) signatures for fast
authentication and non repudiation, and TESLA++ which avoids any kind of Denial of Service
attacks. These developments did not come cheap (Studer et al, 2007).
Authentication of location claims - the physical location of a sender is said to be as important as
their cryptographic identity. With this in mind, VANET safety applications have 2 new
requirements: Convoy Member Authentication (or CMA) and Vehicle Sequence Authentication
(or VSA). These properties verify if a sender is driving with or is in front of a receiver. It has
been claimed that these properties can detect a range of attacks and further serve as a warning for
any security threats (Studer et al, 2007).
Some solutions have also been proposed on the sharing of data within VANETs.
Packet routing needs to be replaced by a new system of information routing. Destination of
information need to be defined. The dissemination destination idea has to reckon with the
limitations of time, space and vehicles.
There is a need to devise push strategies, where vehicles push data to their neighboring vehicles
so other vehicles can easily access such data when necessary. These strategies in turn need to
consider the impact to data caching and aggregation.
Because each vehicle is in a position to generate a traffic report, there is a need to combine
duplicate traffic reports while in the process of propagation so as to reduce the overhead for dissemination.
A transmission schedule needs to be created to make sure reports meet each other at the fork of a
routing tree. But a fixed routing structure is not feasible. Instead, rebroadcasting has been
suggested as a better alternative. But this is only possible in the exchange and dissemination of
local information and has not yet been developed to accommodate city-wide dissemination (Yu,
Xu, 2010).
Methodology:
This is a thesis that aims to discover improved techniques to secure VANETs from attacks
1st, there is a need to understand the different kinds of attacks that VANETs are subjected to.
Research has revealed 2 very prominent aspects - security and privacy. There are other more
technically related issues which first need to be understood before they can be addressed.
2nd, there is a need to look into the present solutions to secure VANETs from attacks and the
weaknesses of these solutions or what other attacks they fail to counter
3rd, in line with the weaknesses of the present solutions and the remaining threats that these
solutions cannot address, propose solutions that will address the above issues.
4th, conduct experiments to prove the soundness of the proposals in the 3rd step.
As reflected by the above steps, the methodology should be evaluative in nature. This thesis
needs to look at the current solutions already in place for a problem, what are the weaknesses in
these solutions and what can be done to address these weaknesses.
The research method also has to apply the qualitative approach because there are still some technical issues that VANETs are exposed to and not yet fully understood. There is a need to conduct surveys allowing open-ended responses from drivers to discover what these technical issues are. These open-ended responses will allow drivers an opportunity to explain their plight and allow a better understanding into their problems on the road.
At the same time, the quantitative approach needs to be applied in understanding the weaknesses of the solutions that are currently in place. Once new solutions are proposed, there will be a need to compare how these new solutions measure up to the old solutions.
There have been many case studies for previous researches. One is the vehicular mobility traces of Portland, Oregon conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (or LANL) to evaluate flat and opportunistic infrastructure routing (Marfia et al). Another case study, which did not zero in on a particular group, employed the use of peer-to-peer video conferencing systems via the internet (Hossain et al). A suggested course of action would be to go back on these groups or studies and explore the success rate of the results, and offer suggestions on the weaknesses the studies revealed.
The ethical requirement that this project needs to comply with is the security and the anonymity of the participants. The surveys required to satisfy the qualitative approach need to be conducted in a manner that the participants will not have to reveal their identity. The quantitative approach which will require a look into previous studies and their results need to be discussed without being too specific as to betray the identity of the sample groups.
At this point, it is too early to suggest software. There is a need to suggest improvements to the current solutions, after understanding the weaknesses of the current solutions. Then looking for a software that can accommodate the suggested improvements can begin.
Research proposal:
As the literature review above indicates, vehicular ad hoc networks are exposed to a variety of
risks in carrying out the functions for which they were created. Some measures have been put in
place to assure the security within vehicular ad hoc networks. However, these measures leave a
lot of improvements to be made and there are still many security issues left unaddressed.
This research paper aims to look into these measures and examine why they fail to provide the
utmost security needed. Geared towards this end, this research will include analyses into the
weaknesses of current security systems, and the consequences of such weaknesses.
Upon finding an answer to these queries, this research will look into some possible solutions to
further improve the security measures which have already been implemented in the past.
Improved Techniques in securing Intelligent vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.
Order No. 1921421326, ORDERED AND NOT ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY Patrick Sevwou
Literature review:
Vehicular ad hoc networks (or VANETs) face a variety of risks with the services they provide.The 2 most common risks are in the aspects of security and privacy.
With regard to security, VANETs can be exploited to send out bogus information and cheat other
vehicles. This may be done for the purpose of either clearing up one's own way or throwing
another vehicle out of its way by means of false traffic reports. Criminals and terrorist can send
out false information to other vehicles for the purpose of blocking police cars or creating
collisions through conflicting traffic reports. Needless to say, this can lead to losses in property
and lives (Zhang).
On the aspect of privacy, VANETs allow access to information on speed, status, trajectories and
locations of the vehicles within its range. This kind of information may be exploited by observers
to draw conclusions about a driver's personality, lifestyle and social relationships. This kind of
information may be further traded in underground markets exposing both vehicles and drivers to
harassment, blackmail and other dangers (Zhang).
There are also some technical challenges that need to be addressed:
- The lack of a centralized infrastructure for synchronization and coordination in the
transmission of messages equates to an excessive use of bandwidth;
- The current decentralized and self-organizing networks are subject to high node mobility,
solution scalability requirements and a variety of environmental conditions;
- The radio channels used in VANETs, which are necessary for wireless communications, create
weak and bad quality signals;
- The networks within a VANET have to operate with many different brands of equipment and
vehicle manufacturers, which is difficult without standard communications;
- Safety related information need to be processed and exchanged quickly;
- The node to node connections leave nodes dependent on other nodes to make decisions, and leave any node in a position to ask for information or distribute the same depending on the situation (Vehicular ad hoc networks call for papers).
There have been a few solutions proposed to address some of the above issues. However, none of
these solutions are full proof and leave other issues still to be addressed.
Efficient and secure threshold-based event validation - this means that the number of vehicles
reporting an event will be limited. Many applications rely on a threshold for the purpose of
reaching an agreement among the vehicles involved, to determine the validity of a report and to
prevent the abuse of emergency alarms (Hsiao et al, 2011).
VANET alert endorsement via multisource filters - this means proposing a security model
wherein spurious messages can be weeded out from the legitimate ones. This model leverages
multiple sources of information which become a part of a multi-source detection model that
alerts drivers only after a percent of sources come to an agreement. This filtering model has 2
main components - a threshold curve and a Certainty of Event (or CoE) curve. The first refers to
the importance of a report to a driver depending on his position, while the second refers to the
confidence level put on received messages. When the CoE goes beyond a threshold, an alert is
triggered (Kim et al, 2010).
Privacy preserving VANET - this is a mechanism for authenticating messages, and separating the
legitimate from the illegitimate vehicles. A Public Key Infrastructure (or PKI) can satisfy these
functions via certificates and fixed public keys. A Temporary Anonymous Certified Keys (or
TACKS) is recommended to prevent eavesdroppers from linking to a vehicle's different keys,
promptly removing misbehaving drivers while not adding to the overhead for communication
among vehicles (Studer et al, 2009).
DOS Resilient VANET authentication - in the past, TESLA was used as an alternative to
signatures. It used symmetric cryptography with delayed key disclosure. This was to provide the
needed asymmetry to prove that the sender and the source of the message were the same. Symmetric cryptography is faster than signatures, thereby making TESLA immune to computational DOS attacks. The same cannot be said for memory-based DOS attacks. In the
latter, receivers store data until the corresponding key is disclosed. Attackers can send out a
million invalid messages with no corresponding key disclosure thereby polluting the receivers.
The TESLA++ was proposed to address the need for reduced memory requirements (Studer et al,
2008).
Now there is the VAST (or VANET Authentication using Signatures and TESLA++). This joins
the benefits of Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (or ECDSA) signatures for fast
authentication and non repudiation, and TESLA++ which avoids any kind of Denial of Service
attacks. These developments did not come cheap (Studer et al, 2007).
Authentication of location claims - the physical location of a sender is said to be as important as
their cryptographic identity. With this in mind, VANET safety applications have 2 new
requirements: Convoy Member Authentication (or CMA) and Vehicle Sequence Authentication
(or VSA). These properties verify if a sender is driving with or is in front of a receiver. It has
been claimed that these properties can detect a range of attacks and further serve as a warning for
any security threats (Studer et al, 2007).
Some solutions have also been proposed on the sharing of data within VANETs.
Packet routing needs to be replaced by a new system of information routing. Destination of
information need to be defined. The dissemination destination idea has to reckon with the
limitations of time, space and vehicles.
There is a need to devise push strategies, where vehicles push data to their neighboring vehicles
so other vehicles can easily access such data when necessary. These strategies in turn need to
consider the impact to data caching and aggregation.
Because each vehicle is in a position to generate a traffic report, there is a need to combine
duplicate traffic reports while in the process of propagation so as to reduce the overhead for dissemination.
A transmission schedule needs to be created to make sure reports meet each other at the fork of a
routing tree. But a fixed routing structure is not feasible. Instead, rebroadcasting has been
suggested as a better alternative. But this is only possible in the exchange and dissemination of
local information and has not yet been developed to accommodate city-wide dissemination (Yu,
Xu, 2010).
Methodology:
This is a thesis that aims to discover improved techniques to secure VANETs from attacks
1st, there is a need to understand the different kinds of attacks that VANETs are subjected to.
Research has revealed 2 very prominent aspects - security and privacy. There are other more
technically related issues which first need to be understood before they can be addressed.
2nd, there is a need to look into the present solutions to secure VANETs from attacks and the
weaknesses of these solutions or what other attacks they fail to counter
3rd, in line with the weaknesses of the present solutions and the remaining threats that these
solutions cannot address, propose solutions that will address the above issues.
4th, conduct experiments to prove the soundness of the proposals in the 3rd step.
As reflected by the above steps, the methodology should be evaluative in nature. This thesis
needs to look at the current solutions already in place for a problem, what are the weaknesses in
these solutions and what can be done to address these weaknesses.
The research method also has to apply the qualitative approach because there are still some technical issues that VANETs are exposed to and not yet fully understood. There is a need to conduct surveys allowing open-ended responses from drivers to discover what these technical issues are. These open-ended responses will allow drivers an opportunity to explain their plight and allow a better understanding into their problems on the road.
At the same time, the quantitative approach needs to be applied in understanding the weaknesses of the solutions that are currently in place. Once new solutions are proposed, there will be a need to compare how these new solutions measure up to the old solutions.
There have been many case studies for previous researches. One is the vehicular mobility traces of Portland, Oregon conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratories (or LANL) to evaluate flat and opportunistic infrastructure routing (Marfia et al). Another case study, which did not zero in on a particular group, employed the use of peer-to-peer video conferencing systems via the internet (Hossain et al). A suggested course of action would be to go back on these groups or studies and explore the success rate of the results, and offer suggestions on the weaknesses the studies revealed.
The ethical requirement that this project needs to comply with is the security and the anonymity of the participants. The surveys required to satisfy the qualitative approach need to be conducted in a manner that the participants will not have to reveal their identity. The quantitative approach which will require a look into previous studies and their results need to be discussed without being too specific as to betray the identity of the sample groups.
At this point, it is too early to suggest software. There is a need to suggest improvements to the current solutions, after understanding the weaknesses of the current solutions. Then looking for a software that can accommodate the suggested improvements can begin.
Research proposal:
As the literature review above indicates, vehicular ad hoc networks are exposed to a variety of
risks in carrying out the functions for which they were created. Some measures have been put in
place to assure the security within vehicular ad hoc networks. However, these measures leave a
lot of improvements to be made and there are still many security issues left unaddressed.
This research paper aims to look into these measures and examine why they fail to provide the
utmost security needed. Geared towards this end, this research will include analyses into the
weaknesses of current security systems, and the consequences of such weaknesses.
Upon finding an answer to these queries, this research will look into some possible solutions to
further improve the security measures which have already been implemented in the past.