FEATURE Automotive Supply Chain
Feature sponsored by
Why
addressing cybersecurity in vehicles is vital
A
ccording to the latest estimates, the average car now contains over 100 million lines of code, expected to triple by 2030.
And as connectivity within a digitalised vehicle environment becomes more common, the potential for cyberattacks on a vehicle’s on-board systems increases, bringing about the possibility of signifi cant disruption, fi nancial loss and safety threats. To counter this, cybersecurity standards for the automotive market – such as UNECE R155, R156 and ISO/SAE 21434 – state that manufacturers must operate processes that manage cyber risk throughout the entire supply chain and a vehicle’s entire life cycle. That means that a vehicle manufacturer is obliged to develop a cybersecurity strategy that states that any modifi cations to a vehicle’s operating system can only be carried out by a validated source, to a validated end-point, with built-in protection against threats. This brings various challenges, not least because of the structure of the after-sales vehicle service sector, which includes many small, franchised or independent dealerships that are rarely within the direct control of the original vehicle manufacturer. The main challenge for manufacturers is that they need to fi nd secure ways to track the build status of each individual vehicle they make, ensuring that only validated electronic control modules are in use, and that every code running in them is as it should be. To comply with mandated security
requirements, all workshop equipment that’s used for the diagnosis and update of vehicle software elements must be validated and protected against unauthorised or malicious access and modifi cation – this must be done through a validated and secure path that involves
38 May 2023 | Automation
many networks owned by a variety of operators and users. Of course, these issues are challenging enough around one make and model of vehicle but they are compounded immeasurably taking into account the diverse nature of vehicles from a large number of manufacturers, each with diff ering needs in terms of what has to be checked and maintained.
Ruggedised system
In the absence of a single, one-size-fi ts-all solution that can satisfy all the requirements of all the cybersecurity standards, vehicle manufacturers must fi nd some way of ensuring their vehicles are protected. Such a system would need to be ruggedised, operate in environments with large temperature variations, and tolerate higher levels of shock and vibration than, say, a desktop PC experiences. It would also need to be mechanically compact, to keep the size of the fi nal equipment to a minimum, and not present any interfaces (other than those directly used by the application), to minimise potential attacks, with each device securely and uniquely identifi able. Such a solution should also have a pre-installed operating system that relies on in-built hardware security features such as encryption of BIOS, critical fi rmware, software and data. Finally, there should be support for application whitelisting to prevent the installation and operation of unauthorised software modifi cations while monitoring critical hardware elements. In addition, such a solution can be remotely managed and support high bandwidths required by vehicle data analytics and edge AI- based applications but with secure cloud connectivity to major enterprise platforms like MS Azure, Amazon AWS, and more. With its deep knowledge of the
hardware, software, connectivity and security elements involved, Advantech was approached by a major European truck and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturer that had concerns about how to tackle the issue of cybersecurity. The company was looking to partner with an organisation that could not only provide the compute elements needed in workshop equipment for checking vehicles but also understand the various connectivity and security options and standards. Advantech provided a low-level customisaition solution, yet robust and highly secure. It is based on Advantech’s MIC-770 modular, embedded box PC platform, with the hardware optimised for the application; for example, by depopulating unused peripheral connectors. Combining the power of Intel’s 12th generation Core-i processors, the MIC-770 includes support for measures to secure the BIOS, operating system images and to block unauthorised modifi cations to hardware or installed software. Advantech’s iBMC, SUSI API and DeviceOn technologies provide remote condition monitoring and device management, checking key computer hardware elements in real time, while also providing a secure method to apply software updates remotely. At the same time, Advantech’s iBMC allows out- of-band remote control of the device, meaning that even if the operating system crashed and the device was not functioning, it would still be possible to access and repair the unit remotely, as long as it has power and network connectivity.
CONTACT:
Advantech
www.advantech.com
automationmagazine.co.uk
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