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Concepts of forensic soundness as they are currently understood in the field of digital forensics are related to the digital data on heavy vehicle electronic control modules (ECMs). An assessment for forensic soundness addresses: 1) the integrity of the data, 2) the meaning of the data, 3) the processes for detecting or predicting errors, 4) transparency of the operation, and 5) the expertise of the practitioners. The integrity of the data can be verified using cryptographic hash functions. Interpreting and understanding the meaning of the data is based on standards or manufacturer software. Comparison of interpreted ECM data to external reference measurements is reviewed from the current literature. Meaning is also extracted from interpreting hexadecimal data based on the J1939 and J1587 standards. Error detection and mitigation strategies are discussed in the form of sensor simulators to eliminate artificial fault codes.

Cyber assurance of heavy trucks is a major concern with new designs as well as with supporting legacy systems. Many cyber security experts and analysts are used to working with traditional information technology (IT) networks and are familiar with a set of technologies that may not be directly useful in the commercial vehicle sector. To help connect security researchers to heavy trucks, a remotely accessible testbed has been prototyped for experimentation with security methodologies and techniques to evaluate and improve on existing technologies, as well as developing domain-specific technologies. The testbed relies on embedded Linux-based node controllers that can simulate the sensor inputs to various heavy vehicle electronic control units (ECUs). The node controller also monitors and affects the flow of network information between the ECUs and the vehicle communications backbone.