Security Challenges for Cooperative and Interconnected Mobility Systems

Software is becoming an important part of the innovation for vehicles. In addition, the systems in vehicles become interconnected and also get external connections, to the internet and Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs). These trends form a combined security and safety threat, because recent research has demonstrated a large number of security gaps for in-vehicle systems and their external connections.

This overview paper presents attacker incentives and the most important security risks that are identified for the parts that make up a cooperative mobility system. For cooperative systems, the application data integrity must be validated to determine if values can be trusted. Furthermore, secure alternatives will be required for positioning, in order to be usable by safety critical systems. To create a secure in-vehicle system, it should be secure by design. In addition to the technical challenges, overarching cyber security dilemmas are addressed, such as stimulating the economy vs. improving security. We expect that the discussed risks will be a challenge for research, industry and authorities in the coming years.