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Journal Article

Employing a Model of Computation for Testing and Verifying the Security of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

2024-03-05
Abstract Testing and verifying the security of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) under cyber-physical attacks is a critical challenge for ensuring their safety and reliability. Proposed in this article is a novel testing framework based on a model of computation that generates scenarios and attacks in a closed-loop manner, while measuring the safety of the unit under testing (UUT), using a verification vector. The framework was applied for testing the performance of two cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) controllers under false data injection (FDI) attacks. Serving as the baseline controller is one of a traditional design, while the proposed controller uses a resilient design that combines a model and learning-based algorithm to detect and mitigate FDI attacks in real-time.
Journal Article

A Deep Neural Network Attack Simulation against Data Storage of Autonomous Vehicles

2023-09-29
Abstract In the pursuit of advancing autonomous vehicles (AVs), data-driven algorithms have become pivotal in replacing human perception and decision-making. While deep neural networks (DNNs) hold promise for perception tasks, the potential for catastrophic consequences due to algorithmic flaws is concerning. A well-known incident in 2016, involving a Tesla autopilot misidentifying a white truck as a cloud, underscores the risks and security vulnerabilities. In this article, we present a novel threat model and risk assessment (TARA) analysis on AV data storage, delving into potential threats and damage scenarios. Specifically, we focus on DNN parameter manipulation attacks, evaluating their impact on three distinct algorithms for traffic sign classification and lane assist.
Journal Article

Sliced Secure Boot: An Accelerated Secure Boot Concept Compatible with Automotive Safety Controllers

2023-06-08
Abstract The secure boot has successfully protected systems from executing untrusted software (SW), but low-power controllers lack sufficient time to check every memory cell while satisfying real-time functional safety requirements. Automotive controllers need to maintain security through multiple cycles of remote, unsupervised operation and safely reach a secure state when an anomaly is detected. To accelerate the boot time, we propose Sliced Secure Boot: build fingerprints by slicing orthogonally through memory blocks, protect each cell with a reusable fingerprint using a reproducible pattern with sufficient entropy, and randomly check one fingerprint pattern during boot. We do not claim that sampling offers equivalent protection to exhaustive checks but demonstrate that careful sampling can provide a sufficient level of detection while maintaining compatibility with both startup time and functional safety requirements.
Journal Article

Security Threat Analysis of In-vehicle Network Using STRIDE-Based Attack Tree and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

2021-10-22
Automotive cybersecurity issues are becoming more prominent than ever. SAE J3061 and ISO/SAE 21434 being drafted also indicate that automotive cybersecurity has been elevated to a position equal to or more important than functional safety. ...SAE J3061 and ISO/SAE 21434 being drafted also indicate that automotive cybersecurity has been elevated to a position equal to or more important than functional safety. ...Security threat analysis helps the development of the early concept phase of automotive cybersecurity. However, the threat analysis based on the traditional attack tree has the disadvantages of multiple subjective factors and low accuracy.
Journal Article

Real-Time Network Defense of SAE J1939 Address Claim Attacks

2021-08-30
Abstract Heavy vehicles are essential for the modern economy, delivering critical food, supplies, and freight throughout the world. Connected heavy vehicles are also driven by embedded computers that utilize internal communication using common standards. However, some implementations of the standards leave an opening for a malicious actor to abuse the system. One such abuse case is a cyber-attack known as the “Address Claim Attack.” Proposed in 2018, this attack uses a single network message to disable all communication to and from a target electronic control unit, which may have a detrimental effect on operating the vehicle. This article demonstrates the viability of the attack and then describes the implementation of a solution to prevent this attack in real time without requiring any intervention from the manufacturer of the target devices. The defense technique uses a bit-banged Controller Area Network (CAN) filter to detect the attack.
Journal Article

Towards a Blockchain Framework for Autonomous Vehicle System Integrity

2021-05-05
Ensuring cybersecurity in an ECU network is challenging as there is no centralized authority in the vehicle to provide security as a service. ...While progress has been made to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities, many of these approaches have focused on enterprise, software-centric systems and require more computational resources than typically available for onboard vehicular devices.
Journal Article

A Comprehensive Risk Management Approach to Information Security in Intelligent Transport Systems

2021-05-05
Abstract Connected vehicles and intelligent transportation systems are currently evolving into highly interconnected digital environments. Due to the interconnectivity of different systems and complex communication flows, a joint risk analysis for combining safety and security from a system perspective does not yet exist. We introduce a novel method for joint risk assessment in the automotive sector as a combination of the Diamond Model, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR). These methods have been sequentially composed, which results in a comprehensive risk management approach to information security in an intelligent transport system (ITS). The Diamond Model serves to identify and structurally describe threats and scenarios, the widely accepted FMEA provides threat analysis by identifying possible error combinations, and FAIR provides a quantitative estimation of probabilities for the frequency and magnitude of risk events.
Journal Article

Delivering Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment Based on ISO 21434: Practical and Tooling Considerations

2020-12-31
Abstract Automotive cybersecurity engineers now have the challenge of delivering Risk Assessments of their products using a method that is described in the new standard for automotive cybersecurity: International Organization for Standardization/Society of Automotive Engineers (ISO/SAE) 21434. ...Abstract Automotive cybersecurity engineers now have the challenge of delivering Risk Assessments of their products using a method that is described in the new standard for automotive cybersecurity: International Organization for Standardization/Society of Automotive Engineers (ISO/SAE) 21434.
Journal Article

Simple Cryptographic Key Management Scheme of the Electronic Control Unit in the Lifecycle of a Vehicle

2020-12-31
Abstract Connecting vehicles to various network services increases the risk of in-vehicle cyberattacks. For automotive industries, the supply chain for assembling a vehicle consists of many different organizations such as component suppliers, system suppliers, and car manufacturers (CMs). Moreover, once a vehicle has shipped from the factory of the CM, resellers, dealers, and owners of the vehicle may add and replace the optional authorized and third-party equipment. Such equipment may have serious security vulnerabilities that may be targeted by a malicious attacker. The key management system of a vehicle must be applicable to all use cases. We propose a novel key management system adaptable to the electronic control unit (ECU) lifecycle of a vehicle. The scope of our system is not only the vehicle product line but also the third-party vendors of automotive accessories and vehicle maintenance facilities, including resellers, dealers, and vehicle users.
Journal Article

Assuring Vehicle Update Integrity Using Asymmetric Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Public Key Cryptography (PKC)

2020-08-24
Abstract Over the past forty years, the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) technology has grown in both sophistication and volume in the automotive sector, and modern vehicles may comprise hundreds of ECUs. ECUs typically communicate via a bus-based network architecture to collectively support a broad range of safety-critical capabilities, such as obstacle avoidance, lane management, and adaptive cruise control. However, this technology evolution has also brought about risks: if ECU firmware is compromised, then vehicle safety may be compromised. Recent experiments and demonstrations have shown that ECU firmware is not only poorly protected but also that compromised firmware may pose safety risks to occupants and bystanders.
Journal Article

Securing the On-Board Diagnostics Port (OBD-II) in Vehicles

2020-08-18
Abstract Modern vehicles integrate Internet of Things (IoT) components to bring value-added services to both drivers and passengers. These components communicate with the external world through different types of interfaces including the on-board diagnostics (OBD-II) port, a mandatory interface in all vehicles in the United States and Europe. While this transformation has driven significant advancements in efficiency and safety, it has also opened a door to a wide variety of cyberattacks, as the architectures of vehicles were never designed with external connectivity in mind, and accordingly, security has never been pivotal in the design. As standardized, the OBD-II port allows not only direct access to the internal network of the vehicle but also installing software on the Electronic Control Units (ECUs).
Journal Article

Threat Identification and Defense Control Selection for Embedded Systems

2020-08-18
Abstract Threat identification and security analysis have become mandatory steps in the engineering design process of high-assurance systems, where successful cyberattacks can lead to hazardous property damage or loss of lives. This article describes a novel approach to perform security analysis on embedded systems modeled at the architectural level. The tool, called Security Threat Evaluation and Mitigation (STEM), associates threats from the Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) library with components and connections and suggests potential defense patterns from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-53 security standard. This article also provides an illustrative example based on a drone package delivery system modeled in AADL.
Journal Article

Secure Boot Revisited: Challenges for Secure Implementations in the Automotive Domain

2020-08-13
Abstract Secure boot, although known for more than 20 years, frequent attacks from hackers that show numerous ways to bypass the security mechanism, including electronic control units (ECUs) of the automotive industry. This paper investigates the major causes of security weaknesses of secure boot implementations. Based on penetration test experiences, we start from an attacker’s perspective to identify and outline common implementation weaknesses. Then, from a Tier-One perspective, we analyze challenges in the research and development process of ECUs between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers that amplify the probability of such weakness. The paper provides recommendations to increase the understanding of implementing secure boot securely on both sides and derives a set of reference requirements as a starting point for secure boot ECU requirements.
Journal Article

The Missing Link: Aircraft Cybersecurity at the Operational Level

2020-07-25
Abstract Aircraft cybersecurity efforts have tended to focus at the strategic or tactical levels without a clear connection between the two. ...CSSEP’s process model postulates that security is best achieved by a balance of cybersecurity, cyber resiliency, defensibility, and recoverability and that control is best established by developing security constraints versus attempting to find every vulnerability. ...CSSEP identifies the major functions needed to do effective aircraft cybersecurity and provides a flexible framework as the “missing link” to connect the strategic and tactical levels of aircraft cybersecurity.
Journal Article

Security Certificate Management System for V2V Communication in China

2019-12-31
Abstract Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a vehicular communication technology to reduce traffic accidents and congestion. To protect V2V communication, multiple security standards have been developed. This article provides an overview of the China V2V security draft standard and compares it to the American IEEE1609.2 V2V standard and to the Security Credential Management System (SCMS). The article provides an overview of the Chinese cryptographic algorithms used in the China V2V standard, and points out differences in the certificate format, such as the lack of implicit certificates in the China V2V standard. The China V2V PKI architecture is similar to the American SCMS, however, the Chinese system utilizes a set of Root Certificate Authorities (CA) that are trusted via an out-of-band channel whereas the American SCMS supports elector-based addition and revocation of Root CAs.
Journal Article

Accelerated Secure Boot for Real-Time Embedded Safety Systems

2019-07-08
Abstract Secure boot is a fundamental security primitive for establishing trust in computer systems. For real-time safety applications, the time taken to perform the boot measurement conflicts with the need for near instant availability. To speed up the boot measurement while establishing an acceptable degree of trust, we propose a dual-phase secure boot algorithm that balances the strong requirement for data tamper detection with the strong requirement for real-time availability. A probabilistic boot measurement is executed in the first phase to allow the system to be quickly booted. This is followed by a full boot measurement to verify the first-phase results and generate the new sampled space for the next boot cycle. The dual-phase approach allows the system to be operational within a fraction of the time needed for a full boot measurement while producing a high detection probability of data tampering.
Journal Article

Vulnerability of FlexRay and Countermeasures

2019-05-23
Abstract The importance of in-vehicle network security has increased with an increase in automated and connected vehicles. Hence, many attacks and countermeasures have been proposed to secure the controller area network (CAN), which is an existent in-vehicle network protocol. At the same time, new protocols-such as FlexRay and Ethernet-which are faster and more reliable than CAN have also been proposed. European OEMs have adopted FlexRay as a control network that can perform the fundamental functions of a vehicle. However, there are few studies regarding FlexRay security. In particular, studies on attacks against FlexRay are limited to theoretical studies or simulation-based experiments. Hence, the vulnerability of FlexRay is unclear. Understanding this vulnerability is necessary for the application of countermeasures and improving the security of future vehicles. In this article, we highlight the vulnerability of FlexRay found in the experiments conducted on a real FlexRay network.
Journal Article

A Comprehensive Attack and Defense Model for the Automotive Domain

2019-01-17
Abstract In the automotive domain, the overall complexity of technical components has increased enormously. Formerly isolated, purely mechanical cars are now a multitude of cyber-physical systems that are continuously interacting with other IT systems, for example, with the smartphone of their driver or the backend servers of the car manufacturer. This has huge security implications as demonstrated by several recent research papers that document attacks endangering the safety of the car. However, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no holistic overview or structured description of the complex automotive domain. Without such a big picture, distinct security research remains isolated and is lacking interconnections between the different subsystems. Hence, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the overall security of a car or to identify aspects that have not been sufficiently covered by security analyses.
Journal Article

Enhancement of Automotive Penetration Testing with Threat Analyses Results

2018-11-02
Abstract In this work, we present an approach to support penetration tests by combining safety and security analyses to enhance automotive security testing. Our approach includes a new way to combine safety and threat analyses to derive possible test cases. We reuse outcomes of a performed safety analysis as the input for a threat analysis. We show systematically how to derive test cases, and we present the applicability of our approach by deriving and performing test cases for a penetration test of an automotive electronic control unit (ECU). Therefore, we selected an airbag control unit due to its safety-critical functionality. During the penetration test, the selected control unit was installed on a test bench, and we were able to successfully exploit a discovered vulnerability, causing the detonation of airbags.
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