APPAS: A Privacy-Preserving Authentication Scheme Based on Pseudonym Ring in VSNs

Vehicular social networks (VSNs) provide a variety of services for users based on social relationships through vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). During the communication in VSNs, vehicles are at risk of exposure to privacy information. Consequently, how to guarantee the security and privacy of vehicles is a critical issue. Ring signature is an effective mechanism to achieve anonymous authentication and communication. However, how to establish rings and how to select ring members become open problems. In this paper, a privacy-preserving scheme based on the pseudonym ring in VSNs is proposed. Hierarchical network architecture and trust model are established. A series of authentication protocols are then elaborated. According to the security and performance analysis, the proposed scheme is more robust and efficient compared with the typical ones.