U.S. DoE Awards Electric Vehicle Cybersecurity Grant to OnBoard Security and Virginia Tech
The Electric Vehicles ecosystem is potentially vulnerable to attacks via the electric vehicles, the charging stations or the grid itself, which could lead to stolen personal and financial information or vehicle damage. This US Department of Energy grant will allow OnBoard Security's research team, along with experts from Virginia Tech and other partners, to evaluate these attack vectors and recommend solutions.
WILMINGTON, Mass., Sept. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- OnBoard Security®, an industry leader in automotive cyber security solutions will be collaborating with Virginia Tech on a US Department of Energy grant for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Cybersecurity. OnBoard Security will be participating in more than a dozen research tasks to "support advanced vehicle technologies that can enable more affordable mobility, strengthen domestic energy security, reduce our dependence on foreign sources of critical materials, and enhance U.S. economic growth."
The Electric Vehicle market is forecast to grow significantly over the next decade, bringing new attack vectors for hackers. OnBoard Security will be leading the team's threat modeling and vulnerability assessment tasks on battery electric vehicles (BEV) and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). OnBoard Security will also create a formally verified firmware update procedure for the EVSE using shared cryptographic keys between the BEV and EVSE. Finally, the researchers at OnBoard Security will conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment of EVSE/BEV communication to determine if the data being collected, transmitted and stored for billing or charging purposes are jeopardizing the users' or EVSE privacy, then design and implement a privacy-preserving communication protocol to provide recommendation to standardization bodies. Researchers from Virginia Tech and equipment manufacturers will be assisting these efforts.
OnBoard Security will also be assisting Virginia Tech and other university partners in full scale system testing of converters and battery management systems (BMS) to resist cyber-physical attacks and devising device fingerprinting methodologies for conductive and inductive chargers.
"The Electric Vehicles ecosystem is potentially vulnerable to attacks via the electric vehicles, the charging stations or the grid itself. Attacks on EV / EVSE could lead to stolen personal and financial information or vehicle damage," explained Dr. Jonathan Petit, Senior Director of Research at OnBoard Security. "This DoE grant will allow my research team, along with experts from Virginia Tech and other partners, to evaluate these attack vectors and recommend solutions."
"As we look to develop solutions that will mitigate or eliminate threats associated with electric vehicles and charging stations, this DoE grant will bring together the expertise of academic and industry researchers, car manufacturers and utility operators to ensure the reliability of electric vehicle transportation in the future," said Ryan Gerdes, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and member of the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech.
About OnBoard Security
OnBoard Security was created to help automotive and IoT organizations stay ahead of the curve through superior cybersecurity. For over 10 years, the world-renowned experts at OnBoard Security have been pioneering technologies that protect the Internet of Things, now and for the future. We address three significant challenges; ensuring the security and privacy of autonomous and connected vehicles, making hardware roots of trust easy to use, and avoiding the existential threat from quantum computers to the integrity of the internet. To learn more about our solutions, please contact sales(at)onboardsecurity.com
About the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech
The Hume Center leads Virginia Tech's research, education, and outreach programs focused on the challenges of cybersecurity, autonomy, and resilience in the context of national and homeland security. Education programs provide mentorship, internships, scholarships, and seek to address key challenges in qualified US citizens entering federal service. Current research initiatives include cyber-physical system security, orchestrated missions, and the convergence of cyber warfare and electronic warfare. For more information, visit: http://www.hume.vt.edu.
SOURCE OnBoard Security
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