TrustVote: Privacy-Preserving Node Ranking in Vehicular Networks

The Internet of Vehicles is the network of connected vehicles and transport infrastructure units [roadside units (RSUs)], which utilizes emerging wireless systems (4G, 5G, LTE) for the communication and sharing of information. The network of connected vehicles enables users to disseminate critical information about events happening on the road (for example, accidents, traffic congestions, and hazards). The exchange of information between vehicles and RSUs could improve the driving experience and road safety, as well as help drivers to identify the hazardous and safe routes in a timely manner. The sharing of critical information between vehicles is advantageous to the driver; however, at the same time, malicious actors could mislead drivers by spreading fraudulent and fake messages. Fraudulent messages can have a negative impact on the infrastructure, and more significantly, have potential to cause threats to life. It is, therefore, essential that vehicles can evaluate the credibility of those who send messages (vehicles or RSUs) before taking any action. In this paper, we present TrustVote, a collaborative crowdsourcing-based vehicle reputation system that enables vehicles to evaluate the credibility of other vehicles in a connected vehicular network. The TrustVote system allows participating vehicles to hide their rating/feedback scores and the list of interacted vehicles under a homomorphic cryptographic layer, which can only be unfolded as an aggregate. The proposed approach also considers the trust weight of a vehicle providing the rating scores while computing the aggregate reputation of the vehicles. A prototype of TrustVote is developed and its performance is evaluated in terms of the computational and communication overheads.