Studies on security enhancement Of in vehicle controller Area networks

Abstract

Manufacturers of cars started replacing mechanical parts with electronic components due to strict rules regarding emissions, efficiency improvement, and engine performance. Tens of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) are used for the control of various systems inside a vehicle, such as engine, brakes, windows, airbags, and lights. Accordingly, vehicles ended up having numerous devices connected using point-to-point connections, which resulted in an increase in complexity and the number of wires used. This problem was solved by implementing in-vehicle networks, namely Controller Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN), Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST), and FlexRay. As the information transfer between the connected devices has increased, vehicles are employed with multiple networks to connect different subsets of ECUs. Among these in-vehicle networks, CAN is the widely used robust network. newlineEven though CAN is the broadly used network protocol used in vehicles, there is no integral method to enforce security. Due to the lack of authentication mechanisms and intrusion detection systems in the CAN protocol, an attacker may exploit these vulnerabilities and connect an external malicious device directly with the CAN bus. External attacks in modern automobiles allow remote exploitation through various means of channels such as diagnostic tools like OBD-II, CD player, Bluetooth, cellular radio, and internet connectivity. All these exploitations directly or indirectly depend on vehicle ECU communications and data. Therefore, ECU communications and data protection deserve special attention newline