Latest Challenges and Various Methods to Improve Authentication for Electric Vehicles

As automotive Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) face rising security threats due to vulnerabilities in the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, advanced solutions are essential to mitigate these threats. This paper presents TACAN (Transmitter Authentication in CAN), an innovative method for secure Electronic Control Unit (ECU) authentication that utilizes covert channels without altering the CAN protocol or adding additional traffic. TACAN employs three phase—Inter-Arrival Time-based, Least Significant Bit-based, and a hybrid approach—to authenticate ECUs effectively on real-world testbeds. Additionally, group extensions of the elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman protocol for secure key exchange on automotive platforms are examined, demonstrating performance on both CAN and CAN-FD layers. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of these methodologies in real-time settings, providing a robust framework to enhance vehicular cybersecurity while maintaining system efficiency and performance.