STRIDE: Secure Traffic Reporting Infrastructure based on Distributed Entities

Abstract

Efficient and intelligent traffic networks rely on the constant exchange of information between participants. For instance, navigation services benefit directly from the availability of real-time traffic information to suggest the most time-optimized and ecologically sustainable routes. This type of information is now commonplace and is formed based on extensive, microscopic movement profiles. This imposes direct constraints on the location privacy of users who implicitly or explicitly share such information. In this paper, we present STRIDE as a component of an ITS to gather real-time traffic information in a privacy-friendly manner, ultimately protecting data sources (i.e., users) against data misuse. Our architecture is designed around the concept of distributed trust, preventing attackers from tracking vehicles across the network, even if they succeed in compromising network components. We also achieve conformity to ETSI standards and conclude that real-world implementation of our architecture would be feasible. Thus, we evaluate STRIDE using SUMO and a real-world data set to analyze STRIDE's potential to provide accurate traffic information. Furthermore, we show that STRIDE ensures k-anonymity even in sparse traffic scenarios, eventually protecting location privacy of each vehicle.