A Security Perspective on Battery Systems of the Internet of Things

Abstract

Battery (sub)systems are used in many systems (systems-of-systems) in the Internet of Things (IoT) ranging from everyday ones (e.g., mobile systems, home appliances, etc.) to safety-critical and/or mission-critical ones (e.g., electrical vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, etc.). As these systems become more interconnected with each other and their environments and batteries become more energy dense, the safety risks of using batteries increase. To guarantee effectiveness and prevent potential safety threats (i.e., failure, overheating, explosion), it is not only crucial to ensure that batteries are functioning correctly (via safety circuits and battery management system), but to also prevent security threats that specifically target the battery system from different parts of these systems. A security analysis is necessary for system manufacturers and users to understand what threats and solutions exist for battery system security. In this paper, we present a security perspective on battery systems, where we use a layered approach to analyze vulnerabilities, threats, and potential effects. We divide the battery system into the Physical, Battery Management System, and Application layers and use mobile systems and cyber-physical systems as case studies for IoT applications. We then highlight and discuss some existing solutions and mention the potential research directions on battery system security.