DEVICE AND METHOD TO ENFORCE SECURITY TAGGING OF EMBEDDED NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20150135271A1
• Filed: 11/11/2013
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: FOREST, THOMAS M.
• Application Number:
  US14/076,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20150135271A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40032 Details regarding a bus interface enhancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/84 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083

Abstract

A method for managing communications from a device onboard a vehicle is provided. The method accesses a message transmitted from the device; determines whether the message is permitted; and, when the determining step determines that the message is not permitted, prevents the message from further transmission to an intended recipient device.

Claims

1. A method for managing communications from a device onboard a vehicle, the method comprising:

accessing a message transmitted from the device;

determining whether the message is permitted; and

when the determining step determines that the message is not permitted, preventing the message from further transmission to an intended recipient device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises:

identifying a tag embedded in the message;

assessing validity of the identified tag; and

when the assessing step determines that the tag is not valid, flagging the message as not permitted.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

when the assessing step determines that the tag is valid, allowing further transmission of the message to the intended recipient device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining step further comprises:

determining whether the tag comprises an identifier associated with the device; and

when the tag does not comprise the identifier, flagging the message as not permitted.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the assessing step further comprises:

identifying an existing security condition of the device;

obtaining a security identifier from the tag, the security identifier indicating a communicated security condition of the device; and

when the existing security condition of the device and the security identifier do not match, flagging the message as not permitted.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining step further comprises:

performing a lookup to determine whether the message comprises an approved communication for the device, based on the identified tag;

wherein the tag identifies an origin of the message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the message is not permitted, the method of claim 1 further comprises:

preventing the device from transmitting communications for a designated period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the message is not permitted, the method of claim 1 further comprises:

delaying the preventing step for a designated period of time;

assessing whether the message is permitted, after the designated period of time; and

performing the preventing step when the message is not permitted.

9. A protection apparatus for preventing transmission of unapproved communications from a device onboard a vehicle, the protection apparatus comprising a digital logic architecture, including:

a transmit data signal input port, configured to receive a data communication for further processing; and

a transmit enable signal input port, configured to receive an activation signal transmitted by a network controller;

wherein the protection apparatus is configured to;

receive the activation signal and the data communication, transmitted by the network controller;

determine whether the data communication is approved; and

prevent further transmission of the activation signal to block receipt of the data communication at a network transceiver, when the data communication is not approved.

10. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the protection apparatus further comprises:

a transmit enable signal output port, configured to transmit the activation signal to a network transceiver when the data communication is approved.

11. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the protection apparatus is further configured to evaluate a subgroup of the data communication to determine whether the data communication is approved.

12. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the protection apparatus is further configured to:

identify an existing security condition for the device;

evaluate a subgroup of the data communication to determine whether the data communication is approved, wherein the subgroup of the data communication comprises a security flag for the device; and

when the security flag indicates a security condition different than the existing security condition, determine the data communication is not approved.

13. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the protection apparatus is further configured to:

evaluate a subgroup of the data communication to determine whether the data communication is approved, wherein the subgroup of the data communication comprises an identifier for the device; and

when the identifier does not correctly identify the device, determine the data communication is not approved.

14. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the protection apparatus is further configured to perform a lookup to determine whether the data communication is approved.

15. The protection apparatus of claim 9, wherein:

the network controller comprises a controller area network (CAN) controller;

the network transceiver comprises a CAN transceiver; and

the device comprises an electronic control unit (ECU) onboard the vehicle.

16. A system for enforcing security tagging of communications from a device onboard a vehicle, the system comprising:

a controller element, configured to transmit a communication via a communication network onboard a vehicle, wherein the communication comprises a message and a tag; and

a protection element operatively associated with the controller element, configured to;

access the communication transmitted by the controller element;

determine whether the tag comprises an authorized label; and

prevent the communication from further transmission when the tag does not comprise an authorized label.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a transceiver element, configured to;

receive the communication from the protection element when the tag comprises an authorized label; and

transmit the communication to an intended recipient device via the communication network.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the protection element is further configured to:

prevent the transceiver from transmitting communications for a designated period of time, when the tag does not comprise an authorized label.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein, when the message is not permitted, the protection element is further configured to:

delay the preventing step for a designated period of time;

assess whether the message is permitted, after the designated period of time; and

perform the preventing step when the message is not permitted.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the protection element is further configured to enable further transmission of the communication when the tag comprises an authorized label.