A Hybrid Security Interface Harmonization Concept for Raising the Overall Security Level of Connected Vehicles

Modern vehicles consist of up to a hundred heterogeneous computing nodes that reach from small microcontroller-based electronic control units (ECUs) handling sensors or actuators to application processor-based high-performance computers (HPCs) running POSIX-based operating systems that are used for infotainment units or AI computing for autonomous driving. The heterogeneity is also reflected in the deployed security technologies and their interfaces with different protection guarantees and features. This makes the development of holistic security concepts difficult.
In this work, we propose a hybrid Trusted Platform Module (TPM)-based security interface harmonization concept for raising the overall security level of connected vehicles. We show the advantages in the key provisioning concept and how the overall in-vehicle security can be improved, while maintaining performance and safety demands of vehicle internal communication.