CS 69191: Masters Seminar
CS 89191: Doctoral Seminar
Spring 2010
Student Presentation:
Security Threats in VANETs
Talal Albalawi
In the last century, Cars talking to cars or even to the drivers was
an idea of a science fiction movie like Knight Rider, but for the last
couple of years and with the addition of complicated electronics on
board vehicles this idea began to change. Vehicles are becoming
smarter in the sense of computer intelligence. Rising number of
accidents which lead to the loss of human s, encouraged scientist to
use the current available technology to make driving safer. In
addition to implementing safety applications, also entertainment
applications like downloading music while driving on the highway are
considered in the research. All these issues lead to the growing
interest in the area of VANETs. Combining the computing power, GPS
capabilities and benefitting from the Adhoc-Network concepts we would
be able to implement safety applications which are the focus of
current VANET research. Safety applications depend on the exchange of
safety messages which are critical in situations that can lead for
example in avoiding an accident. These messages have to be handled in
a special way, but also their security is a problem. What would happen
if a message is sent to warn other drivers in night conditions about
an accident but that message never got to its intended recipients
because of an intruder who have attacked the network? For the
presentation the focus is about the security issues in VANETs
concerning the exchange of safety messages. Identifying the security
threats and presenting possible solutions proposed by some authors.