SNVC: Social networks for vehicular certification

Vehicular Disruption Tolerant Networks appear due to the search of information by drivers, which are organized into mobile ad hoc networks that may suffer from long interruptions. In such networks, both humans as well as machines contribute with information about the traffic and road conditions. As humans can be biased or may be compelled to disseminate false information for personal gains, the network should incorporate mechanisms to assert the trust and reputation of the information sources. This article proposes an inter-vehicle certification mechanism based on social networks to enable reliable exchange of messages called SNVC - Social Networks for Vehicular Certification. It enables mobile devices to share keys through direct contacts between two acquaintances that warrant their identity, so they mutually sign their certificates, establishing trust in the cyber-physical system. Certificates signed by the friend of a user can be validated if the public key of this friend is validated by a friend in common in the social network. Further, a reputation system rates users or devices based on the reliability of the information that they produce. The evaluation of the mechanism shows the behavior of vehicular networks using real mobility traces. The results show the feasibility of the trust in friends as a way to improve the exchange of reliable messages in a Mobile Opportunistic Network. Also, the attribution of reputation for reliable information promotes the recognition of trustworthy users.