Research on Lightweight Dynamic Security Protocol for Intelligent In-Vehicle CAN Bus

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity
• Automotive Engineering
• Network Security

Background:

• Intelligent and connected vehicles face increasing security threats due to more outward-facing components.
• Existing Controller Area Network (CAN) bus security measures are inadequate, leaving messages vulnerable to attacks.
• Current encryption and authentication methods strain vehicle real-time performance and bandwidth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a robust security mechanism for intelligent vehicle CAN bus systems.
• To address the limitations of existing security protocols regarding bandwidth consumption and real-time performance.
• To enhance the overall cybersecurity posture of connected vehicles.

Main Methods:

• Proposed an improved dynamic compression algorithm optimizing header information for higher compression rates.
• Introduced a novel dynamic key management approach with a dynamic key distribution mechanism.
• Implemented independent compression, encryption, and authentication on each Electronic Control Unit (ECU), with periodic key updates.

Main Results:

• Achieved a 2.24% improvement in average compression rate and a 10% increase in compression time efficiency.
• Demonstrated effective defense against four distinct types of cyberattacks.
• Reduced average CAN bus load by 8.28% and achieved low computation times (0.064 ms at 400 MHz).

Conclusions:

• The proposed security mechanism ensures CAN bus message security, real-time performance, and freshness.
• The solution effectively reduces bus load, offering a more efficient cybersecurity approach for connected vehicles.
• This enhances the reliability and defense capabilities of intelligent and connected vehicle systems.