A Semi-centralized Security Framework for In-Vehicle Networks

Despite the benefits of electric and autonomous vehicles, current in-vehicle networks lack a robust and feasible security framework that considers the authentication, confidentiality, and integrity for the communication of Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Although a centralized key management mechanism offers an efficient solution, the security fully relies on this centralized unit, which leads to a single point of failure problem. In this paper, we present a semi-centralized key management framework to secure in-vehicle networks. It provides a decentralized and dynamic key distribution during the vehicle's operation and considers different aspects such as ECU's broadcast communication, ECU manufacturing process and ECU authentication without the use of certificates from external third parties. Finally, the implementation and the simulation of our framework validate the feasibility and practical use of our approach.