Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET

In this paper, we propose a Proof-of-Location (PoL)-based location verification scheme for mitigating Sybil attacks in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). For this purpose, we employ smart contracts for storing the location information of the vehicles. This smart contract is maintained by Road Side...

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Main Authors: Narayan Khatri, Sihyung Lee, Seung Yeob Nam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8140
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author Narayan Khatri
Sihyung Lee
Seung Yeob Nam
author_facet Narayan Khatri
Sihyung Lee
Seung Yeob Nam
author_sort Narayan Khatri
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, we propose a Proof-of-Location (PoL)-based location verification scheme for mitigating Sybil attacks in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). For this purpose, we employ smart contracts for storing the location information of the vehicles. This smart contract is maintained by Road Side Units (RSUs) and acts as a ground truth for verifying the position information of the neighboring vehicles. To avoid the storage of fake location information inside the smart contract, vehicles need to solve unique computational puzzles generated by the neighboring RSUs in a limited time frame whenever they need to report their location information. Assuming a vehicle has a single Central Processing Unit (CPU) and parallel processing is not allowed, it can solve a single computational puzzle in a given time period. With this approach, the vehicles with multiple fake identities are prevented from solving multiple puzzles at a time. In this way, we can mitigate a Sybil attack and avoid the storage of fake location information in a smart contract table. Furthermore, the RSUs maintain a dedicated blockchain for storing the location information of neighboring vehicles. They take part in mining for the purpose of storing the smart contract table in the blockchain. This scheme guarantees the privacy of the vehicles, which is achieved with the help of a PoL privacy preservation mechanism. The verifier can verify the locations of the vehicles without revealing their privacy. Experimental results show that the proposed mechanism is effective in mitigating Sybil attacks in VANET. According to the experiment results, our proposed scheme provides a lower fake location registration probability, i.e., lower than 10%, compared to other existing approaches.
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spelling doaj-art-b671e83ce42b4687911874b1a51acb362025-08-20T02:01:23ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202024-12-012424814010.3390/s24248140Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANETNarayan Khatri0Sihyung Lee1Seung Yeob Nam2Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of KoreaSchool of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of KoreaIn this paper, we propose a Proof-of-Location (PoL)-based location verification scheme for mitigating Sybil attacks in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). For this purpose, we employ smart contracts for storing the location information of the vehicles. This smart contract is maintained by Road Side Units (RSUs) and acts as a ground truth for verifying the position information of the neighboring vehicles. To avoid the storage of fake location information inside the smart contract, vehicles need to solve unique computational puzzles generated by the neighboring RSUs in a limited time frame whenever they need to report their location information. Assuming a vehicle has a single Central Processing Unit (CPU) and parallel processing is not allowed, it can solve a single computational puzzle in a given time period. With this approach, the vehicles with multiple fake identities are prevented from solving multiple puzzles at a time. In this way, we can mitigate a Sybil attack and avoid the storage of fake location information in a smart contract table. Furthermore, the RSUs maintain a dedicated blockchain for storing the location information of neighboring vehicles. They take part in mining for the purpose of storing the smart contract table in the blockchain. This scheme guarantees the privacy of the vehicles, which is achieved with the help of a PoL privacy preservation mechanism. The verifier can verify the locations of the vehicles without revealing their privacy. Experimental results show that the proposed mechanism is effective in mitigating Sybil attacks in VANET. According to the experiment results, our proposed scheme provides a lower fake location registration probability, i.e., lower than 10%, compared to other existing approaches.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8140VANETproof-of-location (PoL)sybil attackprivacysmart contractblockchain
spellingShingle Narayan Khatri
Sihyung Lee
Seung Yeob Nam
Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
Sensors
VANET
proof-of-location (PoL)
sybil attack
privacy
smart contract
blockchain
title Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
title_full Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
title_fullStr Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
title_full_unstemmed Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
title_short Sybil Attack-Resistant Blockchain-Based Proof-of-Location Mechanism with Privacy Protection in VANET
title_sort sybil attack resistant blockchain based proof of location mechanism with privacy protection in vanet
topic VANET
proof-of-location (PoL)
sybil attack
privacy
smart contract
blockchain
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/24/8140
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AT sihyunglee sybilattackresistantblockchainbasedproofoflocationmechanismwithprivacyprotectioninvanet
AT seungyeobnam sybilattackresistantblockchainbasedproofoflocationmechanismwithprivacyprotectioninvanet