Sybil Attack Detection Method based on Timestamp-Chain in Internet of Vehicles

Sybil attack is an identity-based attack. Malicious nodes use multiple false identities obtained through illegal methods to communicate with the network to perform various types of attacks on the system. In response to this problem, a Sybil detection method based on Timestamp-Chain is proposed. When the vehicle passes through the road side unit (RSU), it applies for a time stamp from the RSU to form a Timestamp-Chain. When a vehicle receives a message, it calculates the distance from the vehicle that sent the message based on the received signal strength indication (RSSI), and compares it with the distance calculated from its claimed location. If it exceeds a given threshold, it will be added to the local revocation list (LRL). RSU detects the similarity between the historical track of the vehicle and other vehicles according to the Timestamp-Chain, and further determines whether the vehicle in the local revocation list is a Sybil node. Simulation results show that the method can detect Sybil attack effectively.