A Blockchain-Based Framework To Secure Vehicular Social Networks

Received: 29 June 2018 Revised: 27 April 2019 Accepted: 2 May 2019
DOI: 10.1002/ett.3650
SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE
A blockchain-based framework to secure vehicular social

networks
Youcef Yahiatene1 Abderrezak Rachedi2 Mohamed Amine Riahla1

Djamel Eddine Menacer3 Farid Nait-Abdesselam4
1
LIMOSE Laboratory, Computer Science
Department, Faculty of Sciences Abstract
University M'Hamed Bougara,
Vehicular social network is emerging as a new promising concept, combin-
Boumerdès, Algeria
2
ing two types of network paradigms, namely, vehicular networks and social
Gaspard Monge Computer Science
Laboratory, University Paris-Est networks. In order to manage efficiently the security and the control of the net-
Marne-la-Vallee, LIGM - UMR 8049, work, this paper proposes a new framework based on the emerging concepts of
Champs-sur-Marne, France
3
software-defined vehicular network (SDVN) and blockchain. Using the SDVN
Laboratoire de Communication dans les
Systemes Informatiques, The National makes the network more programmable, virtualized, and partitionable. How-
Computer Engineering School of Algiers, ever, on the other hand, it also creates a well-known vulnerability of a single
Algiers, Algeria
point of failure. Hence, we propose to introduce the blockchain paradigm that
4
LIPADE Laboratory, Paris Descartes
will enable the certification of transactions and ensure data anonymity in a
University, Paris, France
fully distributed manner. To this end, three levels of controllers are needed: a
Correspondence principal controller (PC), roadside units (RSUs), and a local controller. In order
Youcef Yahiatene, LIMOSE Laboratory,
Computer Science Department, Faculty of
to dynamically select miners, a distributed miners connected dominating set
Sciences, M'Hamed Bougara University, algorithm (DM-CDS) has been proposed. The DM-CDS is a single-phase dis-
Independency Avenue, 35000 Boumerdès, tributed algorithm that supports a dynamic topology based on a trust model and
Algeria.
Email: yahiatene.y@univ-boumerdes.dz some other network parameters, such as the connectivity degree, the average
link quality indicator, and the rank. The performance of the proposed DM-CDS
is evaluated throughout multiple scenarios using different parameters, such as
trust metric, node density, node mobility, and radio range. The obtained results
highlight the importance of such proposed architecture, especially in terms of
number of required miners. For instance, when the density of nodes increases,
the number of selected miners increases similarly to when the network length
increases. The node mobility impacts also on the stability of the selected miners,
in terms of withdrawing and joining, showing a variation between 0% and 10%.
The trust metric has also an important impact on the selection of miners, as only
nodes with a higher trust level are selected to endorse the roles of miners.
1 I N T RO DU CT ION
The VSN is arising as a new promising concept, combining the two types of networks, namely, vehicular networks and
social networks.1,2 In VSN, a vehicle is equipped with multiple sensors, capable of collecting multiple spatiotemporal data.
The social dimension is mainly regarded as the ability to the driver and passengers to analyze, use, and share this data
with other commuters that have similar interests and/or facing similar traffic conditions.2 The VSN integrates relevant
Trans Emerging Tel Tech. 2019;e3650. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ett © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1 of 26
https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.3650
2 of 26 YAHIATENE ET AL.
features from the vehicular network and the social network. The vehicular network provides the network communication
infrastructure which can be deployed in a centralized, distributed, or hybrid mode. The VSN is a heterogeneous commu-
nication system, in which multiple devices can exchange information along the road such as on-board unit (OBU), RSU,
and smart devices exploiting the social behavior to communicate.3 The VSN supports a diverse range of applications, it is
not only limited to traffic management and road safety but enables commuters to share data such as videos, audios, roads
photos, and other information from different embedded sensors.
The main existing solutions are mainly based on fully centralized architecture. The mobility of vehicles makes access
to the infrastructure not guarantee. The fully decentralized architecture suffers from different drawbacks such as at
the top-level managers, we have less information about local operations in VSN entities. Everything is in charge of the
VSN entities to take a decision, which leads to lack of control. The quality of service becomes more difficult for the
insured.
In this paper, we propose to introduce a blockchain paradigm. It was introduced the first time by Satoshi into
peer-to-peer electronic cash system.4 The data are sent transparently, safety, and without a central control point. In addi-
tion, the blockchain-based system is a promising solution in privacy-protection based on anonymity and honesty of
information exchanged over the network. The blockchain is composed of blocks. It consists of multiple transactions which
are connected with a previous block in a chain. To ensure the reliability of the added blocks, a special process of solv-
ing a computationally called a “proof of work.” Blocks' generation is assured by nodes in the networks called “miners.”
The transaction consists of shared content between VSN entities such as traffic congestion, weather conditions, infotain-
ment, vacant parking slots, alternate routes, and so on. Moreover, in order to introduce the blockchain in VSN in this
context, we introduce three levels of controllers: PC, RSU, and a local controller. The PC has a global view of the VSN
topology. The RSU is an intermediate between the PC and the miners. The local controllers are acting not only as miners
in terms of security but also as relayers. In order to select miners, we propose a distributed miners connected dominat-
ing set (DM-CDS) algorithm.5 The selection of miners depends on trust parameter based on a trust model, and a network
parameters such as the connectivity degree (Deg), the average link quality indicator (LQI), and the rank.
The principal contributions are outlined as follows:
• A framework in view of SDVN is proposed. It depends on different controllers such as the PC, the RSU, and the miners.
• The blockchain system is applied to ensure protection and to verify information. We propose an algorithm called
DM-CDS using several parameters a trust metric and network parameters such as the connectivity degree, the average
link quality indicator, and the rank.
• Performance analysis is conducted using simulation with completely different situations and several other parameters
as well as nodes density, radio range, node density, and trust metric.
This paper is an extended of our previous work5 where the additional contributions are summarized as follows:
• In-depth discussion related to blockchain applications for the IoT is added.
• Comparison with the existing solutions from the related work based on miners selection is conducted.
• In-depth discussion of the proposed trust model which is introduced to detect misbehaving nodes including malicious,
selfish, and nodes launching conspiracy attacks.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 depicts the related work, within which we introduce
the vehicular social networks and its design. We introduce the SDVN and an overview of the blockchain. Moreover, we
present the connected dominating sets (CDS) algorithm. We present the blockchain applications for the Internet of Things
(IoT). Section 3 describes the proposed framework based on blockchain design, its completely different modules, and
their interaction. In Section 4, we describe the miners' election exploiting CDS algorithms and their completely different
phases. Section 5 is dedicated to discuss and analyze the obtained simulation results and measure the performance of the
proposed DM-CDS. In Section 6, we present the safety analysis of our proposed framework. The last section (Section 7)
is devoted to conclude this paper and provides future views.
2 RELATED WORK
In this section, we present The VSN, the SDVNs, and the blockchain. Moreover, we introduce the CDS algorithm, and
some works related to the blockchain applications for the IoT.
YAHIATENE ET AL. 3 of 26
2.1 Vehicular social networks

This subsection describes vehicular social networks, which are composed of a number of vehicles V = {v1 , v2 , … , vn }.
They are fitted with OBU and RSUs. The vehicles can communicate with each other “vehicle to vehicle (V-to-V)”, as
well as with RSU “vehicle to infrastructure (V-to-I)” communication.6 These types of communications can happen using
different communication media such as 3G/4G.7 The social networks permit users to speak and share information with
none limits. The combination of the social network into the vehicular network gives new applications primarily quoted
to safety and entertainment.8 The intelligent traffic management helps commuters to regulate their behaviors, with time
period information collected from different embedded sensors. It is attainable to get a time period traffic map that indi-
cates the amount of traffic at totally different locations, in order to avoid traffic congestion. Trusted passenger sharing
identical trip or neighborhood will discuss concerning common interests such as students in a bus.9,10 The important
elements of vehicular social network are participants and network infrastructure. We can find passengers, pedestri-
ans, drivers, and RSUs. These participants can participate in exchanging data. Smarts devices integrated on vehicles,
drivers, and pedestrians can find neighborhood and may share content like audios and videos. The physical commu-
nication design of vehicular social network depends upon the network infrastructure that is centralized, distributed,
or hybrid.3
In the centralized design, devices communicate with the server that monitors and manages their exchanges. In this
design, devices cannot communicate directly. The data is stored at a remote server. The last plays a role as a medium
between the VSN entities to communicate. Using this design allow users to update their profile and center of interests.
It enables users to communicate with each other even they are not close. In the distributed VSN architecture, VSN enti-
ties communicate with one another and collaborate with each other dynamically. The vehicles and traveler transmit data
without passing by a centralized point. The intermediate nodes stock data until an end node is reached. The data dissem-
ination on the distributed architecture demands the cooperation of VSN entities. In the hybrid architecture, the vehicles
communicate using (V-to-V) or (V-to-I) communication. The commuters will communicate employing a cellular infor-
mation exchange if the RSU is not accessible. Communication within VSN must be trust primarily based. To guarantee,
exchanges are safety and secure between VSN nodes a mutual relation of trust must be established among transport
entities.11 The VSN is constituted of three layers: sensing, network, and application.11,12 Regarding the sensing layer, it pro-
cesses with the objects of the first layer such as vehicles, infrastructure, and so on. The second layer, which is the network,
is an intermediate layer between sensing, and the application layer performs communication together with routing, for-
warding, transmission, and receiving. The application layer is near to the user, it supports various applications like social
applications, transmission applications, and so on.13 Richard Mason proposed an acronym PAPA, which means privacy,
accuracy, property, and accessibility.14 The privacy deals which data a node must communicate with its neighborhood.
The accuracy deals with the authenticity of exchanged information, and who is to be held responsible in case of tamper-
ing information. The property deals with the owner of the information regarding the accessibility, which entities are able
to access information under which conditions.
Indeed, safety and privacy problems in vehicular social network are poorly investigated. Among published approaches,
we find “SPRING”15 proposed as a novel Social-based PRivacy-preserving packet forwardING. This solution is based on
deploying the RSU at the top infrastructure of the social network. These RSUs can support packets forwarding for vehicles,
whenever next-hop cars do not seem to be accessible. This work offers a conditional privacy conservation. Another works
have been proposed Zhong et al,16 in which data privacy dissemination over social network is accomplished. Abbani et al11
presented a model to maintain the admission to social groups and controlling the interaction among members. The
authors proposed the following aspects: a node can become a member of several groups based on common interest. The
trust level for each node is updated on the basis of nodes' behavior. Decentralized architecture, the group management,
and data are maintained among nodes. The data exchange integrity where the flexibility in data exchange depends on
the mutual trust between nodes. The trust value of a node depends on its cooperativeness, credibility, and reliability. To
control these attributes, a node must keep a history profile of the node it acts with. de Oliveira et al17 proposed a authen-
tication system over social networks, allowing nodes to allocate keys by means of direct contacts. The vehicles with well
attitude in terms of forwarding of traffic will receive a reward. Huang et al18 proposed a trust management which incorpo-
rates a cryptography-based entity trust and email-based social trust. The social trust is established between vehicles using
e-mail exchanges. The authors used cryptographic tools to integrate trusting entities. Alganas et al19 presented a scheme
based on social evaluation of vehicles that allows nodes to display its social rating to other nodes while without reveal-
ing its location history. The authors proposed a system based on SES, which is subordinated by a trust authority, whose
obligation is to render the social evaluation to vehicles.
2.2 Software-defined vehicular networks

This subsection describes software-defined vehicular networks (SDVN), which is a new form of programmable networks.
It is employed to fix the performance concerns and challenges of the vehicular medium. It integrates a programmable
feature such as surveillance, safety measures, virtualization of the network infrastructure, vehicular traffic management,
and infotainment services.20 The VSN supervision services are given by means of an SDVN controller, which supports
the distribution of network traffic management services to network operators. The decisions of forwarding packet are
made in the controller with taking into account information of the network. The SDVN controller is a key element, with
the awareness of the entire network, it supervises the data exchanged over the network. Ku et al21 proposed a modified
architecture for V-to-V and V-to-I based on communication using 802.11p, which includes SDN in VANET and various
wireless technologies for communication. Several works based on SDVN have been proposed, we quote Ku et al,22 they
took the idea of SDN which has been primarily designed for wired infrastructures, and they proposed a software-defined
network based on VANET network, its operational mode is to adopt the SDN to VANET environment. The model resolves
the suppleness and scalability issues of VANETs by using SDN. The network management in the vehicular network is
difficult due to the nature of such network. Separating the data plane and control plane in SDN gives a new direction to
control and manage networking behavior.23 The behavior of VANET is changing due to frequent topological transitions.
The SDN and IEEE 802.11p can be combined to deal with the frequently changing of the topology. The centralized aspect
of SDN controller allows control over information and vehicle puissance.
2.3 Blockchain overview

The blockchain is a new concept based on crypto-coins, which was introduced the first time in the work of Nakamoto.4 The
concept of the blockchain is to keep transactions in a distributed and authentic way. The transactions grouped in a block
are validated using the processing power of devices. The validated blocks will be added to the chain. The characteristics of
the blockchain such as transparency, privacy, and its tractability assure widely larger field of applications.24-26 We can find
blockchain applications as a registry, it ensures better traceability of products and assets, smart contracts,27 blockchain
based voting systems, and so on.28 As definition of the blockchain, it is organized in the form of records, a group of nodes
in the network called “miners” prove a list of transactions and add them to the blockchain. The transactions grouped in
a block are validated by solving a mathematical problem using a hash algorithm, these operations are called “Proof of
work,” which reveals that miners nodes did proceed time to resolve the problem. The particularity of blockchain is that
there is not a central point to manage or validate transactions. Every node can deed as a central point. As we can see in
Figure 1, a block may contain a list of fields such as a unique block number, time stamp, nonce, data, and a previous and
current hash's block.
Hashing algorithms have many interesting properties. The blocks are linked by the hash, each block references the pre-
vious block based on the hash algorithm. Therefore, if an attacker tries to alter any determined block, this activity would
return all blocks' hashes invalid. The connection between blocks using hash makes blockchain tamper-proof than stan-
dard database structures. The miners' role consists of providing the newest hash value of the block which is being added
to the blockchain. We consider SHA256 hashing function, it generates a 64-digit hexadecimal number. The blockchain
has other fields such as “nonce,” which is an integer number, and a “timestamp” representing the current Unix time.
They are served as inputs for the hash function to calculate the current block's hash.
S H A256(Blocknumber, timestamp, nonce, data, previousblock′ shash)− > hash
FIGURE 1 Blockchain architecture

The proof of work is done by incrementing a nonce in the block, until the block is successfully mined. When new trans-
actions are broadcasted to miners, they collect them into a block, and they work on finding a proof of work. When the
miner achieves a proof of work, it diffuses the block to all nodes and it will be added to the blockchain.
2.4 Connected dominating sets algorithms

A connected dominating set is a set of D vertices from a graph G such as G = (V, E). We have this definition, a subset D
from a graph is dominating if every summit from the subset has at least one neighbor. We say that the subset is connected
and dominated if D is dominating.29 The dimension of the connected dominating set is the number of dominating nodes.
The CDS is broadly applied in ad hoc mobile network as a virtual backbone. Among the applications, we can find
it in topology control,30 routing,31,32 broadcasting,33 and so on. The CDS is based into two approaches: distributed and
centralized. Regarding the centralized approach, we assume that the topology of the network is present, this assumption
is not the case within the mobile network. However, within the distributed approach, native network information is
required to take a decision.
Many CDS algorithms have been presented.34 We can quote the algorithm with additional separated phases, which can
cause issues in terms of delays once the network dimension is big. Moreover, the DSP-CDS algorithm proposed in the
work of Yin et al.34
The distributed single-phase algorithm adapts well to changes on the network topology. Based on the neighboring node
information, a node takes a decision to join the subset of dominating nodes.
In this paper, to select a dominating node to act as miners nodes, we focus on the DSP-CDS algorithm. More details will
be presented on the next section. It based on the function called “miner_score.” The DM-CDS uses different parameters
such as link quality indicator, the degree of connectivity, and trust metric, in order to generate miners nodes within an
optimal delay.
2.5 Blockchain applications for the IoT

The blockchain technology can be indeed applied in nearly all domains of the IoT,35 as presented in Figure 2.
Internet of healthcare things: Using IoT in healthcare allows us to provide healthcare system with data related to the
patients. This data is called electronic medical records (EMRs). Using the electronic health records (EHRs) facilitates user
data portability. Liang et al36 introduced a model to share data in health-application based on blockchain. Esposito et al37
proposed a solution based on blockchain to keep healthcare information stocked in the cloud computing. In the proposed
FIGURE 2 Blockchain applications for the Internet of Things (IoT)

model, modifications applied to patient data are noticeable to all member of the network. Any illegal changes can be
discovered. Moreover, Guo et al38 proposed a scheme based on multiple authorities (MA-ABS). The MA-ABS scheme can
be resistant to collusion attacks who can be launching by N-1 corrupted authorities.
Fog computing: Fog computing, also called edge computing, is a system that various devices cooperate and communi-
cate between them and with the network, in the purpose to realize actions like storage and treatment of data without a
third party.39 Huang et al40 introduced a scheme for payment based on bitcoin. They proposed a payment protocol using
security properties such as completeness, fairness, and accountability.
IoT devices: An attacker tries to obtain the data of IoT devices by using the malicious scripts. Lee and Lee41 introduced a
microcode based on blockchain to safely verify microcode version. To obtain microcode update, a device sends its request
using a blockchain on a peer-to-peer decentralized manner. Gu et al42 proposed “CB-MDEE,” which is a framework based
on blockchain; it is used to detect malware in mobile devices. The framework is based on fuzzy logic in the purpose to
mitigate the false-positive ratio and improve the detection of malware.
Software-defined networking: Scientists have been proposing a software to manage network called software-defined
networking (SDN). Using SDN controller provides a smart routing and make decision simple.43 Sharma et al44 proposed
“Distblocknet” which is controller over a network based on the blockchain. The proposed architecture without needing a
central point will provide scalability and flexibility of the solution. The “Distblocknet” is based on controller/verification
and request/response nodes. Regarding the verification node, it maintains the updated flow rules information. The second
node which is the IoT forwarding devices, it updates low rules table in a blockchain.
Internet of vehicles: In this subsection, we present the related works in Internet of vehicles. As we can see in Table 1, all
related works take miners' selection differently. They are based on RSU most of the time. Thus, they delegate the miners
processing to base stations, this is not the case in our approach. We introduce a new framework based on SDVN. We use
the blockchain paradigm, to this end, a new algorithm has been proposed a DM-CDS that is used to select “miners” nodes.
Indeed, in the related works, the miners' selection is based on a centralized architecture, and our proposed architecture
is based on a semidistributed architecture, so the comparison of output results could not take place and could have less
significance. Yang et al45 proposed a reputation system based on blockchain to measure information reliability. Vehicles
rate the received messages and wrap these rating into a block. A selected vehicle is in charge of spreading the information
to others. Using the information stocked on the blockchain, vehicles evaluate the reputation of the transmitter; thus, a
decision about the credibility of the messages is taken.
Lei et al46 proposed a key management system based on a blockchain for heterogeneous intelligent transportation sys-
tems. In which the external authorities are removed, and the key management verification and authentication are based
on security manager. Kang et al47 proposed a "PETCON" using a peer-to-peer commerce system. Based on local aggrega-
tors LAGS which are used to control transactions and given access to various services. Yang et al48 proposed a trust model
based on a decentralized blockchain to measure the credibility of the received information. Based on the outcomes, vehi-
cles make ratings and send them to RSU, which compute the trust value of concerned vehicles and add them to a block.
The blockchain here is maintained by all RSUs, which collaborate to maintain a reliable and consistent trust blockchain.
Huang et al49 proposed a model based on a blockchain for an electric vehicle for charging pile administration. Based on
cryptographic tools, a model is proposed named “LNSC” ensure power supply.
Li et al50 proposed a privacy model based on reward announcement for intelligent transportation system. The pro-
posed scheme named “CreditCoin” based on a blockchain, in which a protocol is built to ensure trusted communication.
Liu et al51 proposed an electric vehicle based on a cloud computing and a edge computing using the blockchain. The
electric vehicles (EVs) provide flow information that changes. A malicious user may catch information via the network.
To address this issue, the blockchain is introduced with two features. Decentralized means that all data operations such
as accounting, storage, and transmission are based on a distributed approach. The second feature is the coparticipa-
tion, means that all EVs will participate in block transactions. The authors focused on issues related to data and energy
exchanges. Use the blockchain paradigm to achieve an enhanced security protection. The vehicles data will be encrypted
and organized into blocks. The RSUs audit vehicular records before added them into the blockchain. Liu et al52 proposed
a dynamic mining selection based on a blockchain and evolutionary game using the Nakamoto consensus protocol.4 The
authors take two factors such as computation power and propagation delay which define the result of the selection. They
propose a model based on the evolutionary game to mathematically describe the dynamic mining-pool selection pro-
cess. The authors focused on mining pool selection, in any case, they did not discuss the selection process of the block
miner itself.
All these related works take the blockchain differently. In the works of Yang et al,45,48 authors talk about data credibility,
to this end, they proposed a decentralized framework for trust management. The RSUs play an important role in the trust
YAHIATENE ET AL.
TABLE 1 Comparison of existing related work based on miners selection

Year Contribution Proposition Research Challenges Miners Selection
2017 Yang et al45 A reputation system The validity of received messages Based on vehicles with
based on a blockchain using the reputation of the sender. stronger sensing capacities.
to measure information reliability. The selection process
was not mentioned.
2017 Lei et al46 Key management No external authorities, Base on a Security Managers (SM).
based on a blockchain for ITS the key management The SMs are base stations
verification and authentication which play the role of miners.
are based on SM
2017 Kang et al47 Using the blockchain to ensure PETCON is proposed using peer-to-peer A local aggregator
peer-to-peer electricity commerce system. A local aggregato (LAGs) using to control transactions.
in hybrid electric vehicles. is proposed to examine LAG is used as energy brokers
and control transactions. to give access to various services.
2018 Yang et al48 Blockchain-based decentralized Measure the credibility of Based on roadside units,
to manage trust model the received information. by all the RSUs.
in vehicular network. The RSU is the central point for
all actions.
2018 Huang et al49 A model based on a blockchain Based on cryptographic tools, The fixed charging stations
for an electric vehicle a model is proposed named “LNSC” are used to validate
for charging pile administration. to ensure power supply. the blockchain.
2018 Li et al50 A privacy model is proposed The proposed scheme named “CreditCoin” The RSU used in the voting system
based on reward announcement based on the blockchain, to incite the user to forward data.
for intelligent transportation system. a protocol is built
to ensure trusted communication.
2018 Liu et al51 An electric vehicle based The electric vehicles (EVs) provide The RSUs audit vehicular
on cloud computing and flow information that changes. records before added
the edge computing using the blockchain. them into the blockchain
2018 Liu et al52 A mining selection based on Model based on the evolutionary The mining selection is based on
blockchain and evolutionary game. game to mathematically describe two aspects the hash rate
the dynamic mining-pool and the delay of propagation.
selection process
Abbreviation: RSU, roadside unit.
7 of 26
values updating. The authors in these papers did not talk about how to select nodes from the network to act as miners. It
is the same thing with Liu et al.51 The authors use the blockchain without worrying about how to select miners.
3 FRAMEWORK BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN ARCHITECTURE
This section depicts in detail the proposed architecture. It is a hybrid approach, which is capable to support a centralized
and a semidistributed control. The basic concept is to select particular nodes to play a role as local controllers.53,54 To this
end, we have various types of controller such as the PC, the RSU, and the miners as presented in Figure 3. In Figure 4, we
illustrated the interaction between different modules. They are divided into main modules such as control module, data
module, the cloud computing module, privacy module, and end-user module.
3.1 Architecture overview

In this subsection, we focus on the different controllers and modules of our proposed framework.
FIGURE 3 A global view of the architecture. RSU, roadside unit

FIGURE 4 Interaction between different modules of the architecture. RSU, roadside unit
3.1.1 The control module

In this subsection, we categorize the control module into three types of controllers: (1) the PC, (2) the RSU, and (3) the
miners.
The PC: The PC is the first controller that is located at the top plane of the framework. It has a global view of the network.
The first function of the PC is to harmonize the RSU and the miners and network's configuration, controlling the various
resources of the network. We have a tendency to contemplate that key distribution is a crucial issue in VSN; thus, the key
distribution is completed through the PC as we are seeing in Figure 3.
The RSU controller: The RSUs are devices located on the roadside infrastructures. They are interconnected using the
network connexion (3G/4G). Their roles consist of management miners group inside their spectre of communication and
play an important role between the PC and miners nodes.
The miners controller: The miners are specific nodes which are selected using the algorithm DM-CDS, their purpose is
to validate the transactions and add them to the blockchain. As we can see in Figure 3, the selection of miners nodes is
founded on network parameters such as link quality indicator, the degree of connectivity, and the rank, the trust parameter
that is based on the trust metric.
3.1.2 The data module

As we see in Figure 3, the data server represents the data module. Its first role consists of managing the data exchange
between different nodes which composed the network according to the SDVN pattern. The primary role of the data module
is to collect, analyze, and manage the data flow generated by the network.
The data collection and analysis: This part describes the relevant methods used to extract data from the network, taking
into account network features such as overhead, fault tolerance, latency, and bandwidth.
Decision process: The decision process is founded on different aspects such as data gathering, data analysis, and the
use of smart tools to take relevant decisions. Among the various tools and techniques can be used are R-learning and
Q-learning.55 In our presented framework, the PC interacts with different controllers such as RSU and miners, to make a
smart decision and adapts the selection of miners with the constraints of the network.
3.1.3 Cloud and fog computing module

The cloud and fog computing may provide various services to nodes on our proposed architecture. Among these services,
we cite “Saas” that may be used by commuters. The VSN entities that share the same road and similar interests can share
voice, data, videos using software as a service “Saas.” The multiaccess edge computing (MEC) refers to computing at the
edge of the network. Using the MEC in the purpose of reducing network congestion, and in hope of improving application
performance, and dissemination of content is concerning the end user. The MEC server can be installed in various places
at the network edge: at the 4G/LTE macro base station, at the technology (3G/LTE), and at the radio network controller
(RNC) site. The nodes related to distributed edges can send or receive data from another nodes early in real time.56 The
fog computing extends the edge of the network. It is not as close but it covers more area than the edge. It is utilized
to pretreatment gathered data at the edge layer and sending them to the cloud computing. The fog computing works
with the edge computing to run an application in a multilayer while performing intelligent transmission services with
computing, storage, and communication capabilities. Our proposed framework take into account various aspects such
as scalability, flexibility, interoperability, and the semidistributed nature of the architecture; hence, the MEC or the fog
computing is a well candidate to make services more certain and efficient. The MEC is seen as an efficient technology to
support VANET/Internet of vehicles.57,58
3.1.4 Security and privacy module

This module is an important part of the architecture that is used to ensure the confidentiality of the data exchanged.
The proposed architecture takes various security aspects such as traceability, integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility.
We introduce the blockchain paradigm in the case of distributed trust management.46 It can dynamically track the VSN
entity behavior (selfish and malicious entities). We introduce the trust metric in the purpose to track the misbehaving of
VSN entities.59,60 We note that nodes with lower trust metric (Tm ≤ threshold) will be eliminated from miners' election.
Figure 5 depicts the miners' election which is based on the social behavior and network parameters. The social behavior
is positively correlated with the trust metric. It is based on connectivity, fitness, and satisfaction; more details are given in
the next section. The network parameters include the link quality indicator, the connectivity degree, and the rank. The
blockchain is a database that contains the history of all exchanges made between VSN entities since its creation. We have
two blockchains: public, which is shared with all VSN entities; private blockchain, whose access and use is limited to
VSN entities which are in relations. To begin the process, a transaction is requested; this latter is broadcasted via peer to
peer to the other VSN that makes up the blockchain network. The transactions are grouped in a block that is validated by
miners. The block is attached to the blockchain. The private blockchain is reserved to VSN entities which are connected
as friends. They share social content such as videos, audios, photos, and so on. The public blockchain is shared by all
others VSN entities, which is used on entertainment and safety-based applications. With the blockchain, we can trace the
behavior of VSN entities. If anyone of them is misbehaving (selfish, fake news, and so on), it will be blacklisted, and its
trust metric will be equal to zero (Tm = 0).
3.2 Trust model

In this subsection, we propose a dynamic trust behavior of nodes in social network.61 This approach is able to detect
misbehaving nodes including malicious, selfish, and nodes launching conspiracy attacks. The trust framework is based on
four parts: (1) behavior detection, (2) trust delivering, (3) trust processing, and (4) trust decision. The behavior detection
is used to trace the misbehavior of VSN entities in terms of forwarding messages, noncooperation, and messages delivery.
FIGURE 5 Miners process decision

The trust model proposed by Wang et al61 is based on three parameters such as connectivity, fitness, and satisfaction.
To calculate the degree of confidence, we take a “two-hop” intermediates VSN entities to generate acknowledgement
messages for the sender entities.
3.2.1 Direct trust value:

The most misbehavior may occur frequently in VSN are selfishness, conspiracy, and flooding. Classical trust model
using probability cannot effectively reveal the misbehaving abovementioned. We use a vector based on three parameters:
connectivity, fitness, and satisfaction.
Connectivity: It is the power of a node to attach to a different node within the network. The connectivity is random, the
frequency of connection can be counted. The connectivity is outlined as (1), ie,
d,c 2 ∗ nfwd + nmeet
Ci,𝑗 = . (1)
2 ∗ nfwd + nmeet + N
d,c
Ci,𝑗 depicts the connectivity between node i and node j.
nfwd represents the quantity of times that node j is associate intermediate node in a transmission path.
nmeet represents the quantity of connection between node i and node j.
N represents all nodes which composed the network.
Fitness: This parameter is used to evaluate a node's behavior. It detects the flooding and black hole attacks. Every mes-
sage has its proper route, which includes nodes between source and destination. The value of fitness is founded on several
values of messages such as the number of messages sent by source nodes, the received messages, and the denial and
forwarding messages. The fitness is calculated as follows, ie, (2):
d,h nfwd + nrec + 1
Ti,𝑗 = . (2)
nsrc + nfwd + nrec + ndeny + 2
d,h
Ti,𝑗 represents the fitness value between node i to node j.
nfwd represents the quantity of messages forwarded by node j.
nrec represents the quantity of node j receiving messages from node i.
nsrc represents the quantity of messages sent by node j.
ndeny represents the quantity of denial of messages.
Satisfaction: It represents how a node is satisfied with dispatching comportment completed by intermediate nodes. The
satisfaction is calculated using two types of messages: acknowledgement messages and forwarding messages. When VSN
entities get the ACK messages, they record the count of the intermediate nodes which forward the messages. Otherwise,
if after a while the ACK message is not received, the transfer is considered failed and the count will not be incremented.
We take an example between two entities A and B to calculate the satisfaction. The entity A sends a message to B, B sends
a message to C, this latter dispatches ACK message to A upon getting a message. Then, A approves the good behavior of
node B. When the message will be transmitted to destination D. Node D dispatches final ACK message to entity A. At this
end, node A approves the good behavior of all nodes in the transmission pathway.
⎧ nack
if path( 𝑗) = 0
d,s ⎪ nrec +1
Ti,𝑗 =⎨ nFack𝑗 +nack (3)
⎪ if path( 𝑗) > 0.
⎩ nFack𝑗 +nrec +1
d,s
Ti,𝑗 represents direct satisfaction between node i and j.
nack represents the number of collected acknowledgement messages.
nrec represents the quantity of times node j gets messages.
nFack j represents the quantity of appearance of node j in final acknowledgement messages.
path( j): represents the appearance of node j in the forwarding pathway. When the source entity gets the acknowledge-
ment messages from the target node, this is a confirmation about the good behavior of nodes in the forwarding path.
3.2.2 Delivery of trust model

Delivery of trust metric allows nodes to know about nodes' behaviors. The node collects recommendations of other nodes
which are used to calculate a trust vector, in the aim to have more accurately the value of trust. We have two categories
of recommendation: (1) nodes with trust degree greater than a particular threshold and (2) other nodes have a similarity
of trust with the current node. The choice of the biggest value of trust is more suitable. The second categories, if nodes
have similarity in their blacklist on misbehavior nodes, their trust recommendation can be accepted. Example: if node A
wants to take a decision about the recommendation, two requirements must be verified.
1. Trust degree must be greater or equal than the minimum;
2. Similarity on their blacklists. To evaluate the resemblance between blacklist of node i and j, we have formula (4), ie,
|Bi ∩ B𝑗 |
Sim(i, 𝑗) = . (4)
|Bi ∪ B𝑗 |
Bi and Bj represents the blacklist group of node i and j.

|Bi ∩ Bj | represents the junction of the blacklist group of node i and j.
|Bi ∪ Bj | represents the union of the blacklist group of node i and j.
the value of indirect trust is given by
∑ d d,X
⎧ k∈Ri (Ti,𝑗 xT𝑗,m )
∑
X
if Ti,𝑗 (t) > 𝜏
ind,X ⎪ X
𝑗∈Ri Ti,𝑗 (t)
Ti,m (t) = ⎨ ∑ d,X
(5)
𝑗∈Ri (Sim(i,𝑗)xT𝑗,m (t))
⎪ ∑
X
if Ti,𝑗 (t) <= 𝜏, Sim(i, 𝑗) > 𝜈.
⎩ 𝑗∈Ri Sim(i,𝑗)
X depicts the attributes of the matching trust.

d
Ti,𝑗 (t) represents trust degree between node i and j at time t.
Sim(i, j) is the similarity of blacklists group of node i and j.
𝜏 and 𝜈 represent respectively threshold of trust and threshold of similarity.
3.2.3 Trust updating

We have two situations of trust updating: the direct and indirect trusts. In the case of the direct trust, when node i has
an interaction with node j during the period |t, t + Δt|. The second case is presented when node i has no interaction with
node j in |t, t + Δt|. The connectivity, fitness, and satisfaction updating are given by (6), ie,
{ d,X
d,X exp−𝜆𝛿t ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t).
Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt) = d,X d,X (6)
𝛼 ∗ exp−𝜆𝛿t ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t) + (1 − 𝛼) ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t + 𝛿t).
Regarding the indirect trust, there are two situations. The case when there is no recommendation to be sent for node
j during the period |t, t + Δt|. The last case, there is no indirect recommendation to receive. The calculation is given
by (7), ie,
{ ind,X
ind,X
exp−𝜆𝛿t ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t).
Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt) = ind,X ind,X
(7)
𝛽 ∗ exp−𝜆𝛿t ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t) + (1 − 𝛽) ∗ Ti,𝑗 (t + 𝛿t).
Global trust is obtained with direct and indirect trust. For every attribute X, the trust from node i to node j is given
by (8), ie,
d,X d,X ind,X
Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt) = 𝛾Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt) + (1 − 𝛾)Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt). (8)
𝛾 is attributed with several values according to the condition of the network. When the network runs for sometimes, it
will tend to be in indirect trust. For node i trust to node j, transmission capacity is given as (9), ie,
∑
all
Ti,𝑗 (t + Δt) = 𝜔X Ti,𝑗
X
(t + Δt), (9)
X
where 𝜔X represents the ratio of attribute X in all attributes. X is combined with fitness, connectivity, and satisfaction.
FIGURE 6 The flowchart of trust decision
3.2.4 Trust decision

The trust decision is divided into four categories:
Decision of receiving messages:
The decision is based on the value of the fitness. If the rate of the fitness is below than a threshold for node's request.
The node which receives the request would refuse it for the message forwarding, as we see in Figure 6. The nodes with
less value of fitness, they can have a bad behavior like spam messages, flooding, denial of services, or refuse to forward.
Refusing the message forwarding request for a node, this can motivate this latter to have a good behavior.
Decision of sending message:
To send messages, entities choose those entities with great connectivity and fitness. The satisfaction is used to decide
the degree of services. The rate of successful forwarding correlates positively with the satisfaction. The nodes to forward
messages, they choose those entities with greater satisfaction and take into consideration their connectivity.
Decision of accept trust recommendation:
The trust-based recommendation depends on the trust threshold and similarity of the blacklist. With these two relevant
parameters, we can assure the reliability and effectiveness of recommendations.
Decision of blacklist:
To take a decision to blacklist a node, the fitness or the satisfaction must be less than a matching threshold. Thus, these
nodes would be blacklisted and this information is broadcasted to neighbors.
4 THE MINERS SELECTION BASED ON CDS ALGORITHM
This section depicts the selection process of miners nodes, which have a major purpose on the network in terms of over-
head related to validating transactions exchanged between VSN entities based on the DSP approach, which produces
better performance in terms of a number of connected miners. To this end, we present our CDS algorithm, which is used
to select a subset of nodes acting as miners nodes. The algorithm begins by attributing a white flag to every node. After-
ward, executing the separate phase of DSP-CDS algorithm, particular VSN entities turn their flags to black, only entities
with a black flag created by DSP-CDS will be acting as miners.
We present a solution called “DM-CDS.” It is based on various parameters including the connectivity degree, the link
quality indicator, the trust metric, and the rank (distance in terms of hops from RSU). In the proposed algorithm, each
VSN entity has proprieties such as unique ID (NodID), a subset on connected VSN entities, over the first execution, VSN
has a distinct ID (SetID). There are three flags employed to specify VSN entity status: white (nondominating node),
gray (middle phase), and black (predominating node).
We discern two main phases: (1) the startup phase, which implies to identify and initialize the status of each node.
It starts the “miner_score” competition, in a plan to provide distinct importance to each VSN according to a various
criterion. (2) The processing phase, it takes a decision where VSN entities are changed to white or black. As we see in
FIGURE 7 The flowchart of selection miners process. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set; vehicular social network
the flowchart presented in Figure 7, we present the different process of our intended DM-CDS algorithm. This process
represents an election approach of the miners based on the control module.
Startup phase: In this phase called the startup process, all VSN entities have the same flag color as white, and their
“miner_score” is unavailable (invalid) in the first time. Moreover, the value of the subset number is the same value as the
VSN entity number. The identity of SetId is the same as NodID. All VSN entities have an initial score for the Tm.62 Every
VSN node has the following status:
• NodId;
• flag_color = white;
• SetId=NodId;
• miner_score is unavailable.
Network parameters evaluation phase: In this step, every entity in VSN calculates important parameters grouped by the
following.
Network parameters:
• the connectivity degree, which depicts the number of directly connected neighbors;
• the average link quality indicator, which depicts the average link with nodes entities;
• the rank depicts the number of hops from the RSUs.
Trust parameter:
• trust metric depicts the degree of trust and integrity of node entity.
FIGURE 8 Miner selection process a competition phase
FIGURE 9 Miner selection process a decision phase
Using these parameters the “miner_score” is calculated.

Competition and decision phase: Every VSN entity calculates its own “miner_score” relative to the parameters seen in
the precedent phase. In order to select miners and take a conclusion, we have two algorithms: “Algorithm_sender,” which
is executed on the sender VSN entity. “Algorithm_receiver” running at the receiver VSN entity. Regarding the sender VSN
entity, it calculates its “miner_score” and make a comparison with non_black neighborhood. After that, a decision will
be taken regarding its flag_color. When the flags' color changes to black, it diffuse these parameters: NodID, flag_color,
SetID, and “miner_score” to all its VSN neighbors, as we illustrate in Figure 8 and Figure 9.
Regarding the black or the gray VSN receiver, if it gets a packet from black VSN entity with higher SetID, then the
receiver node makes modification in its SetID to become likewise subset. Even so, in the case of the white VSN receiver,
it updates its SetID, as we can see it in “Algorithm_receiver” and updates its flag_color to gray. Regarding the white
node, when it receives a packet, it makes modification on its SetID and its flags' color to become gray as we see in
“Algorithm_receiver.”
5 PERFORMANCE A NA LYSIS
This section is consecrated to evaluating and communicating the performance of our algorithm DM-CDS. We consider dif-
ferent performance measures with different scenarios. We implement the DM-CDS algorithm, and we debate the obtained
results. Simulation is needed to provide an important method of analysis and valuable solution. It enables experimen-
tation on a valid representation of our proposed algorithms. It is a simulation with a network aspect, which enables the
control of miners' selection, taking into account the temporal constraints such as the distance from the RSU (rank), the
link quality indicator, and model of trust.
Each node executes the network parameters assessment phase, after that, the node executes the competition and
decision phase (seen in the previous section), in the aim to take a decision to become a miner node or not.
5.1 The simulation setup

During the simulation, VSN entities are arbitrarily disposed in a square where length L is varied from 40 to 120. Each
VSN entity used a range changed between 10 and 20. To determinate (N) which represents all nodes in the network, we
have N = Lx Lx𝜌, which 𝜌 represent the node density. For example, if we take a network 40 × 100 with density 𝜌 = 0.01,
N = 40 × 100 × 0.01 = 40 nodes. The scenarios' details and simulations parameters are presented in Table 2, which are
conducted using network configuration of DSP-CDS.34 We focus on four scenarios as we see in Table 2. Evaluation metric
is the number of miners. We have used different parameters to evaluate the number of miners such as the number of
nodes, network length, and the most important parameters are the node density 𝜌, the radio range, the node mobility,
and the trust metric.
Node density: The node density is the almost important parameter influencing the network connectivity that defines
the number of neighbors a node can possess. The node density and network size play an important role to determine the
number of miners nodes. Every node in the network can become a miner. The node with a greater “miner_score” has a
chance to become a miner node. It covers more neighboring and shares the same SetID.
Node mobility: This is an important parameter based on link stability influencing the network connectivity. A little
group of nodes withdraw and join from the network arbitrarily during the DM-CDS selection.
TABLE 2 Simulation parameters of the distributed miners connected dominating set DM-CDS algorithm
Network Scenario Number of Node (N) Node Density 𝜌 Network Length Radio Range (R) Dynamic
S1 64 to 567 0.03 40 to 120 10 N/A
S2 64 to 567 0.04 40 to 120 10 to 20 withdrawing
S3 64 to 567 0.05 40 to 120 10 to 20 joining
S4 64 to 567 0.06 40 to 120 10 to 20 moving
Radio range: The radio range is the third major parameter. The number of the neighbor nodes increases in relativity
with the radio range. This can raise their degree of connectivity. In the simulation, we vary the radio range between 10
and 20 to assess the execution of our DM-CDS algorithm. The relative node density is given by 𝜋xR2 x𝜌. For example, when
the radio range is given to R = 20, the node density 𝜌 = 0.02. The relative density is equal to 25.12. The two parameters
such as node density and radio range have a significant impact to determine the number of miners nodes.
Trust metric: The trust metric is the most major parameters. Influencing the number of miners nodes. It measures the
trust of VSN entities. In the case of Tm ≤ threshold, the node is excluded from the selection process of miners node. The
simulations administered show the effect of the various parameters on miners' selection such as the node density 𝜌, the
trust metric, the node mobility, and the radio range R. The simulation's scenarios discussed above take place in multiple
iterations. Therefore, at every round, the node takes a decision to change its flag_color correspond to the “miner_score” of
its neighbors. Simulations use the evaluation metric of miners' number for the performance evaluation of the algorithms
proposed in the section “The Miners selection based on CDS algorithm.” The DM-CDS size illustrates the miners nodes,
which are selected using different parameters.
5.2 The simulation outcomes and interpretation

In this section, using various simulation, we measure the performance of our proposed framework. Figure 10 and
Figure 11 represent respectively the impact of node density 𝜌 and radio range to determine the number of miners. Figure 12
and Figure 13 show the impact of mobility based on “link stability” on the miners' number. Finally, Figure 14 depicts the
impact of trust metric to determine the miners' number.
5.2.1 The effect of the node density

The miners' selection is founded on link quality indicator, distance from the rank, and the connectivity degree. As we see
in Figure 10, it depicts the effects of two parameters on the selection of miners node, namely, node density and network
length. We observe that these two parameters affect the number of selected miners. The amount of neighbor nodes is
determined by the node density; thus, when it increases, the miners nodes increases too. The identical impact is observed
as the length of the network increases. The growing number of miners nodes is principally impacted by a large number
of nodes, which will take part in the selection process.
140
120
100
DM−CDS size
80
60 p=0.03
p=0.04
p=0.05
40
p=0.06
20
20 40 60 80 100 120
Network length L(Km)
FIGURE 10 Number of miners node according to node density. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set
160
140
120
DM−CDS size
100
80
60
40 p=0.03
p=0.04
20 p=0.05
p=0.06
0
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Rdio Range (R)
FIGURE 11 Number of miners node according to radio range. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set
5.2.2 The effect of the radio range

In the radio range simulation, as we see in Figure 11, it depicts the effect of radio range with multiple node density on the
number of selected miners nodes. The miners node election strategy is impacted by radio range. Thus, when it gets larger,
it will impact the (Deg) to be higher thanks to node density. Moreover, the node density affects the number of miners
nodes, so the amount of miners nodes gets bigger, it increases with node density until a certain limit. In our proposed
algorithm DM-CDS, the candidate node with poor LQI is discarded from the process of selection.
5.2.3 The effect of the node mobility

The mobility is presented with “link stability,” it is based on two principal parameters withdrawing and joining.
As we see in Figure 12, it depicts the impact of link stability in terms of withdrawing and the network length on the
number of miners. Thus, when a little number of nodes pull out arbitrarily the network between 0% and 10%, the number
of selected miners is well balanced. Regarding Figure 13, it depicts the number of miners nodes according to link creation
(joining). We observe a limited effect on the number of miners when the adhesion of nodes are less than 10%. As a
conclusion, the simulation founded on “link stability,” which is represented by link creation in terms of withdrawing and
joining has a limited effect on the number of miners node.
140
withdrawing=0%
120 withdrawing=4%
withdrawing=7%
100 withdrawing=10%
DM−CDS size
80
60
40
20
20 40 60 80 100 120
Network lengh L (Km)
FIGURE 12 Number of miners according to network withdrawing. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set
140
joining=0%
120 joining=4%
joining=7%
100 joining=10%
DM−CDS size
80
60
40
20
20 40 60 80 100 120
FIGURE 13 Number of miners according to network joining. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set
5.2.4 The effect of trust metric

The trust metric effect is illustrated in Figure 14. It shows the number on miners nodes according to the trust metric Tm.
When nodes possess a Tm with high value, this implies that these nodes are more confident and more reliable; thus, the
number of miners nodes increases. Regarding the nodes with less trust metric Tm ≤ threshold, the amount of miners
node is small. As we can see in Figure 14, when we varied the Tm between 20% and 60%, there is a difference of 40% in
terms of miners nodes.
We varied the simulation parameters, such as the node density, the trust metric as shown in Table 3.
As we see in Figure 14, we note that the trust metric does not have a negative influence on the construction of the
miners nodes. In the case of the network with low density 0, 3<𝜌 <0, 4 and network length <80, the node connectivity
can negatively affect the construction of the miners nodes. This is explained by the fact that a node has not a neighbor
and has a low chance of being selected as a miner node.
We will compare our proposed DM-CDS with the DSP-CDS algorithm,34 in terms of miners node election process.
The algorithm “DSP-CDS” selection strategy is founded on one parameter, namely, the connectivity degree, in this case,
the “DSP-CDS” gives the opportunity to every node to become miners nodes. Regarding DM-CDS algorithm, additional
constraints are added: the Rank, Deg, LQI, and TM. The nodes with a poor link quality indicator are discarded. Therefore,
the LQI has an effect on the election process of the miners nodes. Figure 15 depicts the comparison between the DM-CDS
120
Tm=0%
100 Tm=20%
TM=60%
80 Tm=80%
DM−CDS size
60
40
20
0
20 40 60 80 100 120
FIGURE 14 Number of miners according to trust metric. DM-CDS, distributed miners connected dominating set
TABLE 3 Trust metric variation

Density High Tm Low Tm Medium Tm
Scenario1 0.3 → 0.4 20% 80% 0%
Scenario 2 0.3 → 0.4 80% 20% 0%
Scenario 3 0.3 → 0.4 30% 40% 30%
120
DM−CDS with p=0.03

DSP−CDS with p=0.03
100
DM−CDS with p=0.04
DSP−CDS with p=0.04
80
DM−CDS size
60
40
20
0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Network length L(Km)
FIGURE 15 Comparison between distributed miners connected dominating set (DM-CDS) and distributed single-phase algorithm for
constructing a connected dominating set (DSP-CDS) algorithms
and the DSP-CDS algorithms. It shows that our proposed algorithm DM-CDS surpasses the DSP-CDS with a variance of
40% in terms of miners nodes. This variance between both algorithms is caused by the election process adopted by each
algorithm. The outcomes show that our proposed algorithm DM-CDS compared to DSP-CDS is converging rapidly with
a minimum miners nodes.
6 S EC U RI T Y ANALY SIS
This section is dedicated to the safety analysis of our framework, and we discuss and present some safety analysis of the
proposed architecture.
6.1 Attacks resistance

We present attacks resistance based on two types of security concerns, namely, a distributed trust model and attacks
in vehicular social network. Regarding the attacks in vehicular social network, it can be classified into three classes as
depicted in Figure 16: identity attack, eavesdropping attack, and service-based attack.
FIGURE 16 Attacks classification in vehicular social network. VSN, vehicular social network
6.1.1 Distributed trust metric

The reputation pattern is proposed to create a credible and honest link among selected nodes acting as miners. We apply
the design discussed by Haddadou et al,62 in which the VSN entities are in possession of a hardware device proposed by the
TPM group,63,64 which is used in the works of Guette et al65,66 and Wang et al.67 Our proposed solution is semidistributed.
The VSN entities intercommunicate with each other without passing by RSUs. Our proposed architecture is based on the
blockchain, which is employed to enhance the integrity of information exchanged among VSN entities and allows us to
protect personal data68 :
• The blockchain is employed to guarantee the anonymity of the exchanged information by replacing the address of the
sender and the recipient by a hash.
• Using the private key to sign the data before the exchanges allows us to guarantee their integrity.
• All malicious and misbehaving nodes are traced and blacklisted.
• Transparency: all network exchanges performed by VSN entities are registered in the blockchain.
• Using the blockchain, the threat of fraud is mitigated, and once the transaction is validated and added to the block, we
cannot cancel it anymore.
• The trust metric is used to filter the nodes with a poor Tm.
6.1.2 Identity attacks

Various attacks can be found in this category, namely, the Sybil attack, the impersonation attack, identity disclosure
attacks, and identity theft attacks.
6.1.3 (A) Sybil attack

A malicious user tempts to disrupt the network by creating a number of false identities, in order to be the destination
of the data in the network. This type of attack cannot occur in our proposed solution due to the signature of data before
sending them. Thus, if a malicious user desires to tamper or fake data in the network, he will be tracked and discarded
from the network.
6.1.4 (B) Impersonation attack

The attacks in this category are related to register the identity of victims during the subscription proceeding. This attack
can be exploited by a malicious user in the purpose to perform another kind of attacks, namely, identity theft attack69 and
identity revealing attack.70 This kind of attack cannot happen in our proposed architecture due to using the blockchain
and replace the sender and recipient identities by a hash, moreover, using the signature of data before delivering them.
6.1.5 Eavesdropping-based attack

The eavesdropping-based attack is mainly based on listening network; we find the eavesdropping attack and the black
hole attack.
6.1.6 (A) Eavesdropping attack

The eavesdropping attack may occur when an attacker tries to reach communication exchanged between entities in the
vehicle social network, subsequently, it tries to conduct attacks, namely, modification attack, forgery attack, and packet
analysis attack.
By using the blockchain, this category of attacks cannot happen. All exchanges between entities are signed before
delivering them. An attacker who attempts the forgery attack can be filtered out using the Tm discussed in Section 3.1.
6.1.7 (B) Hole attack

This attack consists of the following: wormhole attack, black attack, and gray attack. Regarding the wormhole attack, a
malicious entity tries to create false plans and informs that it is shorter than others. This kind of attack is detectable in our
proposed architecture by using the “two-hop” intermediate nodes. Regarding the denial-of-service attack, which is based
on the black hole attack, it forwards packets to nonexistent entities in order to delete the entire packet. Some entities
delete packets selectively; this kind of attack is named the gray hole attack. By using the ACK messages, our presented
approach may detect and avoid these attacks by calculating satisfaction and excluding nodes if they behave badly.
6.1.8 (C) False data injection attack

An attacker can conduct attacks against the security of the vehicles by behaving badly and by spreading incorrect data
to attack the neighboring vehicles. In our proposed scheme, the incorrect data attack cannot occur due to the use of the
blockchain. All delivering data are signed before sending them. By using the Tm, the malicious entity can be blacklisted
and filtered out.
6.1.9 Service-based attack

Attacks in this category are based on two kinds, namely, spam attack and denial-of-service attack, in the purpose to make
the entities out of service.
6.1.10 (A) Spam attack

The purpose of this attack is to put the storage of VSN entities out of service and disrupt data in the network. This kind
of attack can be avoided in our proposed architecture by using ACK messages and exclude the misbehaving nodes.
6.1.11 (B) Denial-of-service attack

The attacker in this category tries to place the entities out of service by injecting packets to saturate the communication
medium. Using the trust metric seen above, we can detect misbehaving nodes, and we can blacklist them. Like any other
proposed solution, our architecture suffers from some weaknesses:
• in the case of limited VSN entities, the application of our proposed architecture is not obvious;
• the election of miners is founded on the PC and the RSU. Therefore, when the infrastructure is not present, the selection
is not possible;
• in the case of all VSN entities have Tm ≤ threshold, they behave badly; thus, the selection of miners is not possible.
7 CO N C LU S I O N
In this article, we design a novel framework mainly based on two ideas, namely, the blockchain and SDVNs. Working
with the SDVN allows us to make the network configurable, partitionable, and virtualized. We design and describe the
different modules and software components of this framework. Our proposed architecture is designed to select connected
dominators nodes that act as miners. We integrate various controllers, namely, the PC, the RSUs, and the local controller.
The purpose is to distribute some functions of the controllers and make the services closer to the nodes. Concerning, the
blockchain, an algorithm based on the “CDS” approach selects particular nodes to act as miners, called “DM-CDS,” is
proposed. The proposed algorithm is based on a function named “miner_score,” which combines two relevant parame-
ters network and security. The “miner_score” function is based on the network parameters, namely, the rank, the link
quality indicator, and the connectivity degree, and security parameter which is the trust metric. The trust metric is very
selective; we calculate the trust metric based on connectivity, fitness, and satisfaction, which represents the way a node
is satisfied with the transfer behavior performed by an intermediate node. In order to assess our proposed framework, we
conduct an intensive simulation scenario. The outcomes show the prominence of the proposed model and its sensitivity
and responsiveness to trust model and various network parameters. In future work, we prepare to consider other mobility
models and experiment our architecture with a real test-bed for multiplatform technologies.
ACRONYM S
VSN vehicular social network

SDVN software-defined vehicular network
PC principal controller
RSU roadside units
DM-CDS distributed miners connected dominating set algorithm

OBU on-board unit
Tm trust metric
Deg connectivity degree
LQI the average link quality indicator
CDS connected dominating sets algorithm
IoT Internet of Things
V-to-V vehicle to vehicle
V-to-I vehicle to infrastructure
PAPA privacy accuracy property and accessibility
SPRING social-based privacy-preserving packet forwarding
IBC identity-based cryptography
EVSE efficient Vehicle social evaluation
SES social evaluation server
SDN software-defined networks
VANET vehicular ad hoc network
DSP-CDS distributed single-phase algorithm for constructing a connected dominating set
SM security managers
P2P peer-to-peer
PHEVs plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
LAGs local aggregator
ECC elliptic curve cryptography
EVs electric vehicles
EMRs electronic medical records
EHRs electronic health records
MA-ABS multiple authorities attribute-based signature
CB-MDEE consortium blockchain for malware detection and evidence extraction
EVCE vehicles cloud and edge computing
QoS quality of services
MPD Markov decision process
Saas software as a service
MEC multiaccess edge computing
RNC radio network controller
ACK acknowledgment
Sim similarity
TPM trust platform module
ORCID
Youcef Yahiatene https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6141-9882
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How to cite this article: Yahiatene Y, Rachedi A, Riahala MA, Menacer DE, Nait-Abdesselam F. A
blockchain-based framework to secure vehicular social networks. Trans Emerging Tel Tech. 2019;e3650.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ett.3650

A Blockchain-Based Framework To Secure Vehicular Social Networks

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Received: 29 June 2018 Revised: 27 April 2019 Accepted: 2 May 2019

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

A blockchain-based framework to secure vehicular social

Youcef Yahiatene1 Abderrezak Rachedi2 Mohamed Amine Riahla1

2.1 Vehicular social networks

2.2 Software-defined vehicular networks

2.3 Blockchain overview

S H A256(Blocknumber, timestamp, nonce, data, previousblock′ shash)− > hash

FIGURE 1 Blockchain architecture

2.4 Connected dominating sets algorithms

2.5 Blockchain applications for the IoT

FIGURE 2 Blockchain applications for the Internet of Things (IoT)

TABLE 1 Comparison of existing related work based on miners selection

3 FRAMEWORK BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN ARCHITECTURE

3.1 Architecture overview

FIGURE 3 A global view of the architecture. RSU, roadside unit

3.1.1 The control module

3.1.2 The data module

3.1.3 Cloud and fog computing module

3.1.4 Security and privacy module

3.2 Trust model

FIGURE 5 Miners process decision

3.2.1 Direct trust value:

3.2.2 Delivery of trust model

Bi and Bj represents the blacklist group of node i and j.

X depicts the attributes of the matching trust.

3.2.3 Trust updating

FIGURE 6 The flowchart of trust decision

3.2.4 Trust decision

4 THE MINERS SELECTION BASED ON CDS ALGORITHM

FIGURE 8 Miner selection process a competition phase

FIGURE 9 Miner selection process a decision phase

Using these parameters the “miner_score” is calculated.

5.1 The simulation setup

5.2 The simulation outcomes and interpretation

5.2.1 The effect of the node density

5.2.2 The effect of the radio range

5.2.3 The effect of the node mobility

5.2.4 The effect of trust metric

TABLE 3 Trust metric variation

DM−CDS with p=0.03

6.1 Attacks resistance

6.1.1 Distributed trust metric

6.1.2 Identity attacks

6.1.3 (A) Sybil attack

6.1.4 (B) Impersonation attack

6.1.5 Eavesdropping-based attack

6.1.6 (A) Eavesdropping attack

6.1.7 (B) Hole attack

6.1.8 (C) False data injection attack

6.1.9 Service-based attack

6.1.10 (A) Spam attack

6.1.11 (B) Denial-of-service attack

VSN vehicular social network

DM-CDS distributed miners connected dominating set algorithm

Youcef Yahiatene https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6141-9882

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