Blockchain-Enabled Collaborative Forged Message Detection in RSU-Based VANETs

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks are crucial for enabling real-time communication between vehicles and infrastructure in Intelligent Transportation Systems. However, these networks are highly vulnerable to false data injection attacks, particularly collaborative attacks. In this paper, we propose Collaborative Forged Message Detection (CFMD), a blockchain-enabled framework designed to detect and mitigate collaborative false data injection attacks in RSU-based VANETs. CFMD integrates real-time sensor data validation, trust-based evaluations, and blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity of messages and identify malicious behavior. The system dynamically calculates trust scores for vehicles, aggregating data from nearby vehicles and RSUs while maintaining an immutable record of trust evaluations through blockchain. This multilayered approach minimizes delays in detecting false messages and improves network resilience to collaborative attacks. Our results demonstrate that CFMD achieves higher precision, recall, and lower false positive and false negative rates compared to existing methods.