Efficynet: Secure Ethernet communication for software-defined vehicles

The importance of software in vehicles is constantly growing. In order to implement innovative functions, software in so-called software-defined vehicles is often distributed throughout the vehicle via various control units - the electronic control units (ECUs) - which are all connected to each other and in some cases to the internet.

While bus technologies such as CAN and LIN have previously played a major role in ECU communication, Ethernet is also becoming increasingly relevant due to higher requirements for latency times and data rates. However, increasing connectivity also increases the risk of cyberattacks, which can quickly become life-threatening in a moving vehicle.

For this reason, suitable countermeasures should be selected that meet the real-time requirements in the vehicle while having no impact on vehicle safety.

The aim of the Efficynet project is to efficiently select and test suitable measures against cyber attacks in vehicles.

Dependencies between security attacks and safety threats in vehicle networks are automatically analyzed and context-specific test requirements are derived.

Using the example of the Ethernet-based security standard MACsec, these test requirements are made automatically testable using an innovative software test environment. In this way, vulnerabilities that may have crept in during implementation or configuration can be identified at an early stage.

As part of the project, achelos is developing a test tool for automated test execution. This includes the specification of test cases covering the configuration as well as the implementation of the MACsec protocol and the associated key agreement (MKA). In addition, specific manipulations are worked out in order to implement the test cases. Finally, a demonstrator is developed to present the test environment and results in a practical manner.

The test requirements are defined in close cooperation with the Fraunhofer IEM and dSPACE. As consortium leader, Fraunhofer IEM is responsible for project coordination and also analyzes the dependencies between security attacks and safety hazards in the vehicle network. The project partner dSPACE provides a manipulable software implementation of the MACsec standard in order to test the security mechanisms under real conditions.