The Controller Area Network (CAN Bus) is an intra-vehicle bus standard to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other. It is a broadcast network designed for multiplex electrical wiring within automobiles to save on copper, and now it have been broadly used for avionic and other automotive vehicles, SCADA, energy, industry automation, transportation (e.g., railroad), etc.
However, one major drawback to CAN is that it has no security features and is vulnerable to many kinds of attacks, such as CAN injection attacks, DoS (Denial of Service) attacks, Frame attacks, Eavesdropping, Data injection attack, Spoofing attacks, etc. Some of the attaches can be issued remotely through the global network.
Presently, many security solutions necessitate alterations to the CAN bus protocol, the addition of new hardware components, or the deployment of a centralized controller. In contrast, InfoBeyond proposes a unique approach with VehChain, a solution inspired by blockchain technology, aimed at enhancing CAN security. Sponsored by U.S. Army Ground System Vehicle System Center (GVSC), VehChain aims to provide a cutting-edge software solution designed to fortify ECU communications against potential vulnerabilities and cyber attacks on the CAN Bus.
This video shows a small test-bed that includes three ECU nodes with connection of vehicle sensors. The purpose is to test the real-time performance with integration of Blockchain software modules. As a Blockchain reminiscent cybersecurity solution, VehChain implements firmware-based hash-chain cryptographic technique in aspects of payload encryption, message authentication, node integrity verification, and cyber resilient recovery for the real-time safety-critical CAN Bus to provide a means for intra-vehicle communication cybersecurity. It effectively protects vehicle computers, networks, programs, and data from unintended or unauthorized access, change, or destruction.
For more information, please visit: VehChain