Secure Hybrid ITS Communication with Data Protection

Abstract: In the future world of safe traffic, intelligent transportation systems play a vital role. The connections between traffic participants and systems on the one and infrastructure and service providers on the other side are a necessary prerequisite for informed and safe driving. The key for the connection between all stakeholders is a reliable and secure connection. Reliability can be achieved in different ways. For the information exchange, we utilize hybrid communication technologies in different scenarios. This includes long-range technologies like DAB+ and cellular networks and short- and medium-range technologies like ETSI ITS G5 or RFID. Those technologies can only be used if messages transmitted via the wireless communication links are protected. Protection not only means encryption but most importantly means to verify if the data was sent by a legit sender. This is a necessary requirement for a recipient to trust the data received. In ITS, transmitted data could be used for user tracing and collection of user data. Therefore, a communication system should be designed in such a way that personal user data is protected. The user must be untraceable, but nevertheless able to use all services without limitations. In this paper, we describe the approach and ideas we took to design a secure hybrid communication architecture that is at the same time data protection friendly.