Page 67 - Cyber Defense eMagazine - October 2017

Securing V2I & the Future of Intelligent Transportation Systems

by Malte Pollmann, CEO, Utimaco

Automotive manufacturers are scrambling to become the defacto “name” for Internet of
things (IoT) enabled vehicles, which will soon be the standard rather than a mere
convenience option. At the same time, there is a growing infrastructure emerging
through both public and private investment to advance smart city and smart highway
initiatives and the many revenue opportunities these concurrent developments present.
While vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology will see tremendous growth and
investment over the next few years, there is also an exponential expansion in the
number of cyberattack the network will face and connected infrastructure’s security
surface balloons.

A vision of the future ITS

There are many factors defining the services and capabilities that consumers will face
with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), long before “self-driving cars” become the
norm. Automotive manufacturers, third-party service providers, and federal, state and
local governments now find themselves under pressure to deliver standards-based
infrastructure to enable a myriad of next-generation, must-have services. This includes:

● Identity-based services for vehicle occupants, including streaming audio and
video, hands-free parking, automatic refueling/recharging with seamless payment
capacity, on-demand usage-based HOV access, and entirely new services not
yet available via other channels

● Capabilities for local and state governments, and for private enterprises to
institute mileage-based taxation and identity-based tolls, dynamically adjust road
speeds by adjusting signal phase and timing (SPaT), maximizing fuel economy
and improving traffic flow during peak travel hours

● Automotive manufacturers will need to provide IoT access embedded in each
vehicle to allow connecting to multiple services and future Department of
Transportation regulations

The challenge of protecting ITS, components and users

While these ITS features and benefits require secure, dedicated short-range
communications (DSRC), protecting these from attack is a monumental task. Many of
the entities instrumental in developing and implementing these processes and systems
don’t have deep IT security knowledge. Thankfully, there are existing technologies that
can be leveraged to address each interaction and attack path.

67 Cyber Defense eMagazine – October 2017 Edition
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