VEHICLE DATA ENCRYPTION

• US 20170331795A1
• Filed: 05/13/2016
• Published: 11/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: MARTIN, Douglas Raymond, MILLER, Kenneth James, ROCKWELL, Mark Anthony
• Application Number:
  US15/154,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20170331795A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0872 using geo-location information, e.g. location data, time, relative position or proximity to other entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic

Abstract

A wireless communication system includes a server, in communication with a vehicle controller. The server, in response to receiving from the controller a software update request including a timestamp, identifies a long key associated with the vehicle, encrypts the update beginning at a key offset into the long key generated from a manipulation of a data ordering of the timestamp, and transmits the encrypted update to the controller. A controller, in communication with a server, in response to receiving from the server an encrypted software update triggered by an update request transmitted by the controller and including a timestamp, identifies a long key associated with the vehicle, decrypts the update beginning at a key offset into the long key generated from a manipulation of data ordering of the timestamp, and initiates an installation of the decrypted update on the vehicle.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system comprising:

a server, in communication with a controller of a vehicle, configured to, in response to receiving from the controller a software update request including a timestamp, identify a long key associated with the vehicle, encrypt the update beginning at a key offset into the long key generated from a manipulation of a data ordering of the timestamp, and transmit the encrypted update to the controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes reversing a decimal representation of the timestamp.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes reversing a binary representation of the timestamp.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes mapping a digit order in a decimal representation of the timestamp to a manipulated representation of the timestamp according to a predetermined digit reordering.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp is according to a predetermined pattern selected by the server and transmitted from the server to the vehicle in response to a previous software update request.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to confirm that the software update request is authorized based on a determination that the timestamp of the software update request differs from timestamps associated with previous software update requests.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to confirm that the software update request is authorized based on a determination that a difference in time between the timestamp of the software update request and a previous software update request timestamp is less than a predefined threshold difference in time.

8. A method comprising:

in response to receiving a request from a controller of a vehicle for a software update, identifying, by a server, a long key associated with the vehicle;

encrypting the update using data at a key offset into the long key, the key offset computed from a reordering of data elements of a timestamp of the request; and

sending the encrypted update to the controller.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data elements are bits, and the reordering includes reversing ordering of the bits such that a most significant bit and a least significant bit are reversed.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the data elements are bytes, and the reordering includes reversing ordering of the bytes such that a most significant byte and a least significant byte are reversed.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the data elements are decimal digits, and the reordering includes reversing ordering of the decimal digits such that a most significant decimal digit and a least significant decimal digit are reversed.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the reordering includes reordering according to a predetermined pattern selected by the server and transmitted from the server to the vehicle in response to a previous update request.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising confirming that the software update request is authorized based on a determination that the timestamp of the software update request differs from timestamps associated with previous software update requests.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising confirming that the software update request is authorized based on a determination that a difference in time between the timestamp of the software update request and a previous software update request timestamp is less than a predefined threshold difference in time.

15. A system for a vehicle comprising:

a controller, in communication with a server, configured to, in response to receiving from the server an encrypted software update triggered by an update request transmitted by the controller and including a timestamp, identify a long key associated with the vehicle, decrypt the update beginning at a key offset into the long key generated from a manipulation of data ordering of the timestamp, and initiate an installation of the decrypted update on the vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes reversing a digit order in a decimal representation of the timestamp.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes reversing a bit order in a binary representation of the timestamp.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp includes mapping a digit order in a decimal representation of the timestamp to a manipulated representation of the timestamp according to a predetermined digit reordering.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp is according to a predetermined pattern selected by and received from the server with a previous encrypted software update.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to determine the key offset by scaling the manipulation of the data ordering of the timestamp to correspond to a length of the long key.