DBKE: Design of Blockchain-Envisioned Vehicle-to-Vehicle Secure Key Management Protocol Using ECC

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) authentication is essential in the Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET). V2V communication improves the safety of drivers and assists them in making the appropriate decision according to road conditions. Since V2V communication happens in open public channels, an adversary takes advantage of it and tries to launch several potential threats. This article designs a blockchain-assisted V2V communication and authentication scheme using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) called DBKE. In DBKE, vehicles perform their registration with their nearest Roadside Unit (RSU) without assisting the centralized cloud server. Then, one vehicle can communicate with another using the information stored in the blockchain. During the communication, both vehicles first perform the process of mutual authentication and then securely generate the session keys without sending the private parameters to the public channels. The formal analysis of DBKE is done with the Scyther and Real-or-Random (ROR) models, which confirm that the DBKE is robust and safe from attacks. Furthermore, the detailed comparative study of the security features reveals that the DBKE scheme provides superior security and low computation cost compared to the existing V2V authentication protocols.