EVITA

EVITA is a project co-funded by the European Commission. Its objective is to design, verify, and prototype an architecture for automotive on-board networks where security-relevant components are protected against tampering and sensitive data are protected against compromise. Thus, EVITA will provide a basis for the secure deployment of electronic safety aids based on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.

Background

Future automotive safety applications based on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication have been identified as a means for decreasing the number of fatal traffic accidents. Examples of such applications are local danger warnings, traffic light pre-emption, or electronic emergency brakes. While these functionalities herald a new era of traffic safety, new security requirements need to be considered in order to prevent attacks on these systems.

A modern car may be equipped with up to 70 embedded ECUs (electronic control units) for a diversity of functions. The ECUs are connected via various vehicular buses, forming a complex distributed system. So far, there has been little incentive and opportunity for tampering with automotive networks. This will change with the advent of new vehicular communication interfaces. There are various threats, such as forced malfunctioning of safety-critical components or the interference with the traffic flow by means of fake messages.

Objectives

Secure and trustworthy on-board systems form the basis for trustworthy communication among cars or between cars and the infrastructure. Therefore, the objectives of the EVITA project are to design, to verify, and to prototype an architecture for the on-board networks where security-relevant components are protected against tampering and sensitive data are protected against compromise. By focusing on the protection of the intra-vehicle communication, EVITA complements other e-safety related projects that focus on the protection of inter-vehicle communication.