A Bilinear Pairing-Based Anonymous Authentication Scheme for 5G-Assisted Vehicular Fog Computing

Recent advancements in wireless network technologies have led to the emergence of fifth-generation (5G)-assisted vehicular fog computing, which aims to enhance traffic management and reduce road accidents. However, the open nature of wireless networks and the high speeds of vehicular movement raise significant security and privacy concerns. Ensuring the integrity of vehicle-to-vehicle communication is a critical aspect of securing 5G-assisted vehicular fog computing systems. To address these concerns, various conditional privacy-preserving authentication systems have been proposed. Despite their effectiveness, these systems often incur high computational costs when verifying signatures. In this paper, we propose an authentication scheme for 5G-assisted vehicular fog computing that leverages bilinear pairing cryptography to achieve both authentication and conditional privacy while reducing the computational overhead associated with signature verification. Our approach omits the map-to-point function during the signing and verification processes and minimizes the number of operations involving bilinear pairing cryptography, leading to enhanced efficiency. We conduct a thorough security analysis of the proposed scheme, utilizing both informal methods and the Automated Verification of Internet Security Protocols and Applications simulation tool. Additionally, we compared our method with recent advances in authentication techniques to strengthen the security framework of our bilinear pairing-based anonymous authentication scheme for 5G-supported vehicular fog computing. Furthermore, the formal security analysis has been extended to include a detailed evaluation of the scheme’s resilience against various cyberattacks, such as impersonation (insider threats), replay attacks, and man-in-the-middle attacks. We also provide a discussion on practical insights and deployment considerations for real-world applications. Furthermore, an energy consumption analysis demonstrates that our proposed scheme outperforms existing approaches in terms of both computational efficiency and communication overhead, making it a viable solution for future applications in vehicular networks.