Quantum-Resilient Secure Context-Aware Trust-Based Routing with Preemptive Verifiable Key Handover for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) face unprecedented security challenges due to their dynamic topology, heterogeneous node capabilities, and vulnerability to quantum computing threats. Traditional trust-based routing protocols rely on classical cryptographic primitives that become obsolete in the post- quantum era, while context- awareness remains superficial in existing approaches. This paper presents a novel Quantum-Resilient Secure Context-Aware Trust-Based Routing with Preemptive Verifiable Key Handover (QR-SCTR-PVKH) protocol for VANETs that integrates lattice-based cryptography with multi- dimensional trust evaluation and proactive key management. Our approach incorporates direct trust computation based on packet delivery ratio, indirect trust propagation through witness testimonies, contextual trust adaptation considering traffic density and node mobility patterns, and historical trust evolution using temporal decay functions. The preemptive verifiable key handover mechanism employs Learning With Errors (LWE) problem-based key generation with forward secrecy guarantees and quantum-resistant signature schemes. Extensive simulations using SUMO-integrated NS-3 demonstrate 23.7% improvement in packet delivery ratio, 31.2% reduction in end-to-end delay, and 89.4% attack detection accuracy compared to state-of-the-art protocols. The protocol maintains IEEE 1609.2 compliance while ensuring GDPR compliance through privacy-preserving trust aggregation. Security analysis confirms resistance against quantum attacks, Sybil attacks, blackhole attacks, and replay attacks with computational overhead remaining within 15% of classical approaches.