Survey on Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks and Its Access Technologies Security Vulnerabilities and Countermeasures

In this study, we attempt to add to the literature of Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) security by incorporating the security vulnerabilities and countermeasures of the Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) and their access technologies. Compounding VANETs and modern vehicles will allow adversaries to gain access to the in-vehicle networks and take control of vehicles remotely to use them as a target or a foothold. Extensive attention has been given to the security breaches in VANETs and in-vehicle networks in literature but there is a gap in literature to assess the security vulnerabilities associated with VANETs access technologies. That is, in this paper we contribute to the CAV security literature in threefold. First, we synthesize the current literature in order to investigate security attacks and countermeasures on VANETs as an ad hoc network. Second, we survey security challenges that emerge from application of different VANETs access technologies. To augment this discussion, we investigate security solutions to thwart adversaries to compromise the access technologies. Third, we provide a detailed comparison of different access technologies performance, security challenges and propound heterogeneous technologies to achieve the highest security and best performance in VANETs. These access technologies extend from DSRC, Satellite Radio, and Bluetooth to VLC and 5G. The outcome of this study is of critical importance, because of two main reasons: (1) independent studies on security of VANETs on different strata need to come together and to be covered from a whole end-to-end system perspective, (2) adversaries taking control of the VANETs entities will compromise the safety, privacy, and security of the road users and will be followed by legal exposures, as well as data, time and monetary losses.