Development of automotive security technology based on Ethernet networking
Proposing new standards at ITU meetings and promoting international standards.

As the commercialization of Level 3 and 4 autonomous vehicles approaches, domestic researchers have begun conducting security research on malicious hacking that may occur inside the vehicles.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 10th that it will develop core security technologies necessary for commercializing Ethernet-based next-generation automotive networks to suit the new environment.

The CAN (Controller Area Network) method, previously used for vehicle networks, supports low-speed networks. However, as automotive electronics become increasingly complex and large-scale data processing becomes increasingly important, the need for communication with the external environment is increasing. Therefore, the communication environment must be changed to Ethernet to improve network performance, such as smooth data processing and data transmission, and reduce complexity.

The research team explained that since the CAN network environment used in existing vehicles is also necessary at times, research and development on new security technologies for a mixed communication environment with Ethernet communication methods is necessary.

ETRI is conducting research that reflects the characteristics of vehicles based on its experience and know-how in implementing core source technologies such as encryption technology, authentication technology, and communication security technology, as well as application service technologies such as IoT and vehicle V2X projects, which have been researched mainly by the Information Security Research Center.

In particular, the research team will develop core security-related software and collaborate with automotive Ethernet specialists and automotive software verification companies to develop the technology. This security technology is expected to be incorporated into automotive Ethernet gateways (GWs) in the future.

Through this project, ETRI will develop ▲vehicle Ethernet onboard security communication technology ▲Ethernet vehicle security threat prediction/analysis/response technology ▲in-circuit-based dynamic vulnerability diagnosis technology ▲Ethernet-based vehicle network access control technology.

The research team explained that, given that this technology is life-saving, they will research and develop it using not only known attack detection methods but also previously unknown abnormal behavior detection techniques, such as packet filtering and access control measures. To achieve this, they will incorporate security vulnerability detection and response techniques, such as cyberattacks, into the technology design, and they plan to continue reinforcing necessary security technologies after development.

In addition, this technology is planned to undergo stability testing at least four times after development. In addition to verifying the stability between existing equipment and networking, we also conduct stability tests after installing SW modules to ensure that there are no issues with human safety.

ETRI announced that its research team's proposed "Ethernet-based In-Vehicle Network Security Guidelines" were adopted as a new standardization task at the ITU conference held in late August, an international standards organization, and that it is also pursuing international standardization. Dr. Sangwoo Lee of ETRI's Information Security Research Division served as a rapporteur, effectively chairing the conference, and explained that ETRI is leading the way in proposing new standards and leading the way in related technologies globally.

Dr. Jeong Bo-Heung, head of ETRI's Information Security Research Center and the person in charge of this project, said, "The goal of this technology development is to secure next-generation vehicle security technology that can predict threats, analyze causes, diagnose vulnerabilities, and secure communication for various security threats in the future automobile service environment."

The research team believes this will ultimately enable the development of an active security system that can fundamentally protect next-generation Ethernet-based vehicle infrastructure from cyberattacks. They also stated that the security technology could be applied not only to unmanned autonomous vehicles but also to other unmanned vehicles, such as ships, drones, and robots.

This technology is being promoted as part of the 'Automotive Ethernet-based Vehicle Security Threat Prediction, Detection, Response, and Security Automatic Diagnosis Technology Development' project, which is being supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information and Communications Technology Promotion Center for three years starting in April of this year.

The lead organization for this project is ETRI, and THN, SureSoft Tech, Hancom MDS, and ESCRYPT are participating in the joint development. ESCRYPT, a subsidiary of Bosch's ETAS, is a global automotive embedded security technology company. ETRI plans to enter the global automotive security market through international joint research with ESCRYPT.