Securing Internet of Vehicles with a provable secure post-quantum mutually authenticated protocol based on Small Integer Solution

As technology advances, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have evolved into the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs), transforming the IoT landscape.IoV integrates automotive sensor to collect data from the environment, vehicles, and drivers, using wireless links that are vulnerable to attacks.This necessitates strong security measures to protect confidential data shared between vehicles and Road Side Units (RSUs).While earlier protocols are susceptible to quantum computer-enabled attacks, Gupta et al. proposed an identity-based mutual authentication protocol to address these concerns.However, this paper identifies several flaws in Gupta et al.'s protocol and introduces an enhanced identity-based mutual authenticated key agreement protocol that leverages small integer solution (SIS) problems.The security and efficiency of the proposed quantum-resistant protocol can be further enhanced by meticulously adjusting parameters, including lattice structures, computational complexity, and elliptic curve configurations such as curve order and field size.Furthermore, we utilize BAN logic for rigorous security validation of our solution, supplemented by performance benchmarks including communication efficiency and computational overhead, in comparison to related protocols.Additionally, we present a critical design perspective for key negotiation solutions.While no protocol is flawless at inception, our proposed solution substantially improves security in the IoT domain.