Threat analysis for an in-vehicle telematics control unit

Abstract

A modern vehicle is a complex computing system consisted of various control units for computing measured data from sensors and controlling the vehicle. Modern vehicles have communication facilities for communicating with a remote system and even other vehicles on the road. All those computing and communication capacities are for making the vehicles smarter and thus improving driving safety and efficiency. However, as the modern vehicles are considered as computing systems, malicious attacks targeting the modern vehicles are increasing and this phenomenon will continue. Security threats on vehicles already become a reality, while the security threats are needed to be articulated. In this paper, we present an initial result of threat analysis especially for a telematics control unit. The identified 25 threats are presented that endanger the TCU in a specific condition.