Secure location-aware geocast routing in Internet of Vehicles

Efficient message dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) relies on robust connectivity between neighboring vehicular nodes, yet it is often compromised by malicious intruders. While recent literature proposes various approaches to enhance geocasting performance, security considerations for connectivity are often overlooked. To address this gap, we propose the Secure Location-Aware Cache Agent based Geocast Routing (SL-CAGR) protocol, emphasizing an Intrusion Prevention Technique (IPT) for message integrity preservation and a Connectivity Reliant Packet Forwarding (CRPF) algorithm for improved VANET connectivity. Our protocol introduces a network model for cache agent-based geocast routing on the Internet of Vehicle (IoV) environment, implements IPT using Diffie-Hellman digital signatures, and presents a secure geocast routing strategy focusing on re-caching and cache agent selection. Empirical simulations demonstrate SL-CAGR's superiority in packet delivery ratio, packet loss, duplication, hop count, end-to-end delay, and network load compared to these protocols. Simulation results demonstrate that SL-CAGR outperforms state-of-the-art techniques like CAG, CTRC, and D-Flooding. SL-CAGR stands out by merging intrusion prevention, secure geocast routing, and cache agent selection, ensuring robust security and efficiency in VANETs.