BSRP: A Blockchain‐Based Secure Routing Protocol With Zero Knowledge Handover Authentication for Internet of Vehicles

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives The Internet of vehicles development under intelligent transportation systems necessitates secure, decentralized, and privacy‐preserving authentication schemes to counter sophisticated attacks such as sybil attack, replay attack, man‐in‐the‐middle attack, and rushing attack. Current PKI and ECC‐based schemes still endure central trust schemes, high computation overheads, and weak privacy guarantees. To overcome such limitations, this paper proposes, a blockchain‐based secure routing protocol with zero knowledge handover authentication for Internet of Vehicles intertwining multiphasic security, privacy‐preserving zero‐knowledge proofs, and real‐time rushing attack detection for Internet of vehicles scenarios. Methods BSRP is built with a consortium blockchain and operates under seven mutually interconnected security phases such as secure registration, one‐time passwords assisted login, zk‐SNARK‐facilitated authentication, privacy‐preserving handover, verifiable route verification using Layer‐2 zk‐Rollups, and rushing attack detection. The protocol incorporates HMAC‐based one‐time passwords for freshness, Keccak‐256 hashing for attribute integrity, zk‐SNARKs for privacy‐resilient proofs, and AES‐256 for encrypted channel communications. Smart contracts allow for decentralized identity management, blacklist enforcement, and tamper‐evidence logs. Results A security proof with Random Oracle Model and BAN logic shows that BSRP achieves session key indistinguishability, forward secrecy, and immunity to known attack scenarios. Comparison results demonstrate that BSRP reduces computation overheads and handover latencies by orders of magnitude compared to prior blockchain‐assisted schemes. Conclusion With privacy, decentralization, and lightweight crypto construct at its viewpoint, BSRP provides a scalable and robust security architecture that can be deployed within real‐time, privacy‐conscious vehicular networks.