Secure Time-Sensitive Software-Defined Networking in Vehicles

01/03/2022
by   Timo Hackel, et al.
0

Current designs of future In-Vehicle Networks (IVN) prepare for switched Ethernet backbones, which can host advanced LAN technologies such as IEEE Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN). In this work, we present an integrated Time-Sensitive Software-Defined Networking (TSSDN) architecture that simultaneously enables control of synchronous and asynchronous real-time and best-effort traffic for all IVN traffic classes using a central SDN controller. We validate that the control overhead of SDN can be added without a delay penalty for TSN traffic, provided protocols are properly mapped. Based on our TSSDN concept, we demonstrate adaptable and reliable network security mechanisms for in-vehicle communication. We systematically investigate different strategies for integrating in-vehicle control flows with switched Ether-networks and analyze their security implications for a software-defined IVN. We discuss embeddings of control flow identifiers on different layers, covering a range from a fully exposed mapping to deep encapsulations. We experimentally evaluate these strategies in a production vehicle which we map to a modern Ethernet topology. Our findings indicate that visibility of automotive control flows on lower network layers is essential for providing isolation and access control throughout the network infrastructure. Such a TSSDN backbone can establish and survey trust zones within the IVN and reduce the attack surface of connected cars in various attack scenarios.

READ FULL TEXT

Please sign up or login with your details

Forgot password? Click here to reset