Research

Lead Researcher(s)

Morley Mao
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering

Andre Weimerskrich
Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

Project Abstract

Over the last few years, Autosar’s secure on-board communication (secOC) protocol has been established as standard for authenticated CAN communication. However, no common automotive standard has been established for automotive Ethernet. While there are a few candidates, including IPsec, TLS, MACsec, and secOC, there is no widely favored candidate. The objective of this project is to establish a favored candidate, supported by thorough evaluation, and propose standardization for secure Ethernet protocol in the automotive use cases.
Automotive Ethernet technology must address security requirements in addition to high bandwidth criteria to support the increasing data transfer needs of future networks in the cars. Security is especially important as it is conceivable that an electronic control unit (ECU) can be compromised subsequently violating the integrity of any unencrypted communication among ECUs. This could lead to more sophisticated attacks such as remotely braking the car, as some of the components in the car allow wireless network access.

Project Outcome

Because no common automotive standard has been established for automotive Ethernet, the objective of this project is to establish a favored candidate among the few currently available through thorough evaluation, and then propose a standardization for secure Ethernet protocol in automotive use cases.