CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0020568, filed on Feb. 21, 2019, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure in some embodiments relates to a method and system for providing security in an in-vehicle network.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and do not necessarily constitute prior art.

A new generation of more luxury vehicles places a lot of emphasis on electronic control units (ECUs) and multimedia devices communicating with the internal, external devices, or infrastructures of automobiles which can even provide the in-vehicle operator with network access. For example, vehicle controls are widely used, including an access authentication controller for smartphone-based vehicle access and start service (Ex. IAU), a backup controller for storing an odometer value to prevent mileage alteration (Ex. ICU: Integrated Central control Unit), an electric charge controller for PnC (Plug and Charge) service (Ex. CCM: Charger Convertor Module), a controller serving as a vehicle communication unit and gateway (GW) (Ex. CCU: Communication Control Unit), and the like.

However, the vehicle when connected to the wireless communication and surrounding network environment becomes vulnerable to external attacks that affect the electronic control device through the network. Various controllers provide the vehicle driver with a customized service by storing vital information on charging and authentication, etc. (credit card number, personal information, vehicle information, etc.), where such controllers may be stolen or duplicated to face the consequences as follows: when an electric charge controller pilfered from vehicle A is connected to vehicle B for receiving an electric charge through the vehicle charger, the owner of vehicle A, not vehicle B, could be wrongly charged for the fueling. Further, when vehicle A has lower mileage than vehicle B, connecting a pilfered mileage backup controller from vehicle A to vehicle B results in a manipulated lower mileage of vehicle B.

These issues can lead to theft of the vehicle or financial damage of the owner and further to serious safety problems of the driver. Currently, mass-produced vehicles are not equipped or inadequately equipped with satisfactory protective measures.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure in some embodiments seeks to provide a method and system for providing security in an in-vehicle network, wherein, to safely protect vital information of a vehicle and an owner from malicious behavior by detecting a stolen or duplicated controller when mounted on the vehicle, a first controller is configured to collect and store in advance the integrity information of the main information (such as boot loader and MAC information) of at least one or more second controllers, to be responsive to a verification request received from a backend server for obtaining integrity information from each of the second controllers and comparing the integrity information with the stored integrity information and thereby determining whether or not the second controller is stolen or duplicated, to ensure integrity of the vital information of the controller.

At least one aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a first controller for providing security for a plurality of second controllers in an in-vehicle network, including transmitting an inherent information request to a suspicious controller of the plurality of second controllers for an inherent information of the suspicious controller, the inherent information request including a certificate assigned to the first controller, and receiving an encrypted inherent information of the suspicious controller from the suspicious controller, the encrypted inherent information having been encrypted with a public key associated with the certificate, and using a private key associated with the certificate for obtaining a decrypted inherent information from the encrypted inherent information, and comparing the decrypted inherent information with a pre-stored inherent information, and determining the suspicious controller to be an anomalous controller when the decrypted inherent information is different from the pre-stored inherent information.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for providing security for a plurality of second controllers in an in-vehicle network, including a request transmission unit, an inherent information reception unit, an inherent information extraction unit, a storage unit, a comparison unit, and a verification unit. The request transmission unit is configured to transmit an inherent information request to a suspicious controller out of the plurality of second controllers, the inherent information request including a certificate assigned to the apparatus. The inherent information reception unit is configured to receive encrypted inherent information of the suspicious controller from the suspicious controller, the encrypted inherent information having been encrypted with a public key associated with the certificate.

The inherent information extraction unit is configured to utilize a private key associated with the certificate for obtaining a decrypted inherent information from the encrypted inherent information having been received by the inherent information reception unit. The storage unit is configured to store inherent information of the second controllers in association with the second controllers. The comparison unit is configured to compare the decrypted inherent information extracted by the inherent information extraction unit with the inherent information having been stored in the storage unit. The verification unit is configured to determine the suspicious controller to be an anomalous controller when the comparison unit concludes that the decrypted inherent information is different from the inherent information having been stored in the storage unit.

Yet another aspect of the present disclosure provides a system for providing security in an in-vehicle network, including a plurality of second controllers connected to an external device or an infrastructure to control a vehicle, a backend server configured to request verification of a suspicious controller among the plurality of second controllers, and a first controller configured to perform verification of the suspicious controller upon receiving a verification request for the suspicious controller from the backend server. Here, the first controller includes a request transmission unit, an inherent information reception unit, an inherent information extraction unit, a storage unit, a comparison unit and a verification unit. The request transmission unit is configured to transmit an inherent information request to a suspicious controller out of the plurality of second controllers, the inherent information request including a certificate assigned to the first controller.

The inherent information reception unit is configured to receive an encrypted inherent information of the suspicious controller from the suspicious controller, the encrypted inherent information having been encrypted with a public key associated with the certificate. The inherent information extraction unit is configured to utilize a private key associated with the certificate for obtaining a decrypted inherent information from the encrypted inherent information having been received by the inherent information reception unit. The storage unit is configured to store inherent information of the second controllers in association with the second controllers. The comparison unit is configured to compare the decrypted inherent information extracted by the inherent information extraction unit with the inherent information having been stored in the storage unit. The verification unit is configured to determine the suspicious controller to be an anomalous controller when the comparison unit concludes that the decrypted inherent information is different from the inherent information having been stored in the storage unit.

As described above, according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure, the method and system for providing security in an in-vehicle network is capable of protecting data stored and managed for providing a customized service not only from a hacking threat but also from a physical attack such as theft and duplication incidents. In view of the difficulty for a specific normal controller to directly control the operation of an anomalous controller, utilizing the backend server by taking account of connected car environment can prevent malicious use of the anomalous controller by restricting the service of the anomalous controller.

