On Secure and Energy-Efficient Message Communication Protocols for Internet of Vehicles: Cryptanalysis and Improvements

The Internet of Vehicles (IoV), a subset of the Internet of Things (IoT) within the transportation sector, enhances driving safety and comfort by utilizing intelligent transportation systems to facilitate communication among vehicles and other entities. In this context, communication extends beyond vehicles and roadside units (RSUs), supporting interactions between vehicles, mobile devices, sensors, and infrastructure. Ensuring the security of vehicular communications is essential in the IoV paradigm. Recently, Limbasiya et al. proposed secure and efficient communication protocols for IoV, claiming their protocols are resilient against various known attacks. However, our paper identifies significant vulnerabilities in Limbasiya et al.’s protocols, including susceptibility to identity guessing, impersonation, password guessing, and man-in-the-middle attacks. Furthermore, these protocols lack confidentiality, unlinkability, and the ability for the IoV server to trace malicious vehicle users when necessary. To address these drawbacks, we introduce improved protocols for secure communications within the IoV framework. Afterwards, we assess the security of our proposals through both informal and formal analyses, employing the RoR model, BAN logic, the ProVerif, Scyther, and Tamarin tools.