Pseudonym Scheme Based on Hybrid Certificates for Security Credential Management System in Vehicular Communications

2026-06-11

AI Summary

This study addresses the vulnerability of existing vehicular communication security standards to quantum attacks and the privacy risks arising from inferable linkages between pseudonym certificates and registration certificates. To mitigate these issues, the authors propose a novel hybrid certificate mechanism that integrates elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) with post-quantum cryptography (PQC), marking the first application of hybrid cryptographic techniques in vehicular credential management. They further design a unified pseudonym generation framework compatible with ECC, PQC, and RSA algorithms, effectively decoupling pseudonyms from registered public keys to enhance privacy. Certificate issuance and management are implemented based on IEEE/ETSI SCMS and Butterfly Key Expansion (BKE) mechanisms. Through evaluation of message size and computational overhead, the work benchmarks NIST-standardized PQC candidates and recommends an efficient, quantum-resistant, and privacy-preserving hybrid pseudonym scheme tailored for vehicular networks.

Abstract

In recent years, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) have developed a series of security communication standards for vehicular communications. These standards include mechanisms such as the Security Credential Management System (SCMS) and Butterfly Key Expansion (BKE) to protect vehicle privacy. However, these standards are mainly based on the Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC), which may be vulnerable to attacks from quantum computing in the future. In response to this potential risk, this study proposes a hybrid certificate that combines the ECC with Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). This approach enables infrastructure systems to be built on cryptographic foundations that are more resilient to quantum-based attacks. Furthermore, this study presents a generalized pseudonym scheme that is compatible with various cryptographic algorithms for generating pseudonym certificates. This design aims to eliminate the possibility of inferring any correlation between the public key in a pseudonym certificate and that in an enrollment certificate. This study also conducts a comprehensive performance evaluation of the RSA, ECC, and PQC algorithms, particularly those standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The comparison considers factors such as message length and computation time. Based on the findings, this study recommends suitable pseudonym schemes that adopt hybrid certificates for secure and efficient use in vehicular communications.

Problem

• Vehicular Communications
• Security Credential Management System
• Post-Quantum Cryptography
• Pseudonym Scheme
• Quantum Computing Threat

Innovation

• hybrid certificate
• post-quantum cryptography
• pseudonym scheme
• vehicular communications
• security credential management