Secure Software Delivery and Installation in Embedded Systems

Increasingly, software (SW) in embedded systems can be updated due to the rising share of flashable electronic control units (ECUs). However, current SW installation procedures are insecure: an adversary can install SW in a given ECU without any sender authentication or compatibility assessment. In addition, SW is installed on an all-or-nothing basis: with the installation, the user acquires full access rights to any functionality. Concepts for solving individual deficiencies of current procedures have been proposed, but no unified solution has been published so far.

In this article we propose a method for secure SW delivery and installation in embedded systems. The automotive industry serves as a case example leading to complex trust relations and illustrates typically involved parties and their demands. Our solution combines several cryptographic techniques. For example, public key broadcast encryption enables secure SW distribution from any provider to all relevant embedded systems. Trusted computing allows to bind the distributed SW to a trustworthy configuration of the embedded system, which then fulfills a variety of security requirements. Finally, we outline the management of flexible access rights to individual functionalities of the installed SW, thus enabling new business models.