The application is applicable for use in conjunction with a system that includes connected vehicle communications in which vehicles in the system each have an onboard processor subsystem and associated sensors, the processor subsystem controlling the generation, transmission, and receiving of messages communicated between vehicles for purposes including crash avoidance. A method is set forth for determining, by a given vehicle receiving messages, the occurrence of misbehavior, including the following steps: processing received messages by performing a plurality of plausibility determinations to obtain a respective number of plausibility measurements; determining at least one context for the region at which the given vehicle is located; weighting the plurality of plausibility measurements in accordance with values determined from the at least one context to obtain a respective plurality of plausibility indicator values; and deriving a misbehavior confidence indicator using the plausibility indicator values.