In 2021 the automotive industry is about halfway through the six levels of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) towards full autonomy. Drivers of today’s models can choose to use some hands-off and some eyes-off driving features. Popular examples include:
- Waymo™ (Google)
- Super Cruise™ (GM)
- AutoPilot (Tesla)
- ProPILOT Assist® (Nissan)
- DISTRONIC PLUS® (Mercedes-Benz)
- Traffic Jam Assist (Audi)
- Pilot Assist (Volvo)
Ṣe nọmba 1: Five levels for AV automation.
Along with the convenience that increasing adaṣiṣẹ brings, comes the challenge of keeping cars safe from cybersecurity attacks. Every week we read news reports about businesses getting hacked and suffering data breaches through their networks of computers. Calling our modern cars, a “data center on wheels” means that they are also subject to computer security concerns.
The Next Generation of Connected Vehicles
Just consider how many ways our cars are now connected: Our smartphones use Bluetooth® to take a phone call using the car speaker system, cellular connections for roadside assistance, Wi-Fi® for Over the Air (OTA) updates, using a fob to control door locks, USB connectors or even plugging an EV into a commercial charger. Each of these connections increases the attack surface for intruders to exploit.
Automotive designers must be proactive in their new designs to consider ways to mitigate security attacks for each of these connections. Inside of each vehicle are dozens of Electronic Control Units (ECUs), that operate in various zones to collect sensor data and make decisions. Adding cybersecurity to the Functional Safety of each ECU needs to be a design goal. Using a systems-level approach to providing both safety and cybersecurity in vehicles is the best strategy. If a hacker can exploit a security flaw, then the driver’s safety is put in jeopardy and that is a very dangerous outcome that we must avoid.
Automotive Security Market Drivers
A luxury car today can contain up to 100 million lines of code within all ECUs and CPUs in use. This means vehicles are quite dependent on software to sense, control, and make decisions. Most automotive cyber-attacks are targeted at wireless interfaces, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular. With OTA updates it is important that the updates are securely validated, before allowing them to be installed.
The ubiquitous Controller Area Network (CAN bus) has been used within vehicles for years now to enable communication between ECU’s, however, security was never part of the Classic CAN definition. The advent of CAN FD (Flexible Data-rate) with additional payload bytes available allows for the addition of CAN MAC (Message Authentication Codes). Newer trends see Ethernet connectivity in the automotive space, and hardware vendors know how to secure that network. Making a hardware system secure typically starts with a secure boot followed by message authentication which are both dependent on truly secure key storage.
An ideal automotive security solution would not require a complete redesign of all electronics but rather would use an approach of layering in new security features.
Automotive Designers Must Defend More Attack Surfaces
Cars may be considered the most sophisticated Internet of Things (IoT) devices that consumers use each week. With our smartphones and computers, we know how often apps and operating systems are updated to fix security vulnerabilities. Our connected cars have a similar attack surface to smartphones and computers, so each attack surface must be defended on an ongoing basis.
Automotive OEMs can follow best practices to provide cybersecurity by ensuring that only authorized software is loaded and run—a secure boot operation. As the dozens of ECUs communicate with electronic messaging, only the authorized ECUs are allowed, and messages are authenticated using the AES block cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC) algorithm. Firmware update signatures are cryptographically verified before they are allowed to change any content. Even the traffic within each electronic network should be inspected on each port to ensure that only valid packets are allowed.
An Approach to Secure the Entire Car: From Boot to Connected System
Microchip is active in the area of cybersecurity for automotive applications and secure boot, which only allows authenticated content to run. This is provided by the CryptoAutomotive™ security IC, the TrustAnchor100 (TA100). Designers won’t have to redesign their entire systems, because this external Hardware Security Module (HSM) provides multiple security features:
• Secure boot
• Authentication of CAN messages
• Electric Vehicle (EV) battery management system and module authentication
• Message encryption with Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• Support for Wireless Power Consortium Qi® 1.3 authentication
• Cryptographic verification of the source of the module manufacturer
Ṣe nọmba 2: TA100 14-pin SOIC socket board.
yi Microchip approach will save both cost and design time in comparison to redesigning a new MCU to add security features. MCU code changes will have little effect on the host MCU functional safety ratings. The TA100 comes already programmed with security features, giving you a quick learning curve without needing a security expert. Project risk is lowered because the MCU code changes are so minor.
Innovations like this make cybersecurity easier in automotive design, helping to safely accelerate the drive to autonomous vehicles.
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