Message Authentication Approaches in Vanets

Vehicular networks tries to achieve traffic safety, traffic control and give drivers an amazing experience. Vehicular networks are a variation of mobile networks because vehicles are viewed as nodes that are mobile. Due to the network's dynamic nature, authentication is a challenge because the network structure is always changing. Another challenge is that the network is prone to attacks like Sybil, message alternation, and Man In the Middle Attack. The network requires that vehicles send messages all the time about traffic information as such it very vital that entities authenticate these messages. As vehicles move in the network they send messages to each other. Any malicious vehicle can join the network and transmit false messages hence the importance of authenticating the messages to prove originality of the messages transmitted in the network. The paper focuses on different methods in message authentication.