A Blockchain-Based Proxy Re-Encryption With Equality Test for Vehicular Communication Systems

Vehicular communication systems (VCS) are likely to play an increasingly important role in future smart city design, for example by improving road safety and traffic efficiency. However, there are underpinning security and privacy challenges, which may also result in under-utilization of vehicular data. In this paper, we introduce a new cryptographic primitive, namely: blockchain-based proxy re-encryption with equality test. Specifically, the proposed approach is designed to achieve reliable matching results by leveraging smart contracts, as well as efficient data sharing and privacy-preserving by combining the function of public-key encryption with equality test and proxy re-encryption. We also implement a prototype of the proposed approach and evaluate its performance with those of three other competing approaches. A comparative summary with three other competing approaches demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves all four features (i.e., decentralization, flexibility, non-interaction, and re-encryption). Findings from the prototype evaluation (using hyperledger fabric v1.4.2 as the test blockchain platform, and the fabric-sample repository) also demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach in practice.

Automated summary

This study introduces a new cryptographic primitive based on blockchain to address security and privacy challenges in vehicular communication systems, achieving efficient data sharing and privacy protection. By comparing with other competing methods, it is found that the proposed approach performs well in terms of features and demonstrates practical utility in prototype evaluation.