Security Challenges in Controller Area Network (CAN) in Smart Vehicles

In the past couple of years, the automotive industry has seen some big changes. With all the devices that we know and use in our day to day lives, getting smarter and smarter, it shall be no surprise that the automotive industry is also trying to achieve the same. Although this change has brought connectivity, comfort and functionality, it has also created new ways and opportunities to get attacked. These security challenges should be well studied as this industry is constantly getting updated. The in-vehicle architecture of these vehicles neglects security of the vehicle. We see that the CAN Bus, used to transfer information from one ECU to another, has many vulnerabilities that may turn out to be fatal for the consumer and the manufacturer. In this paper we will discuss the working of the CAN bus, possible vulnerabilities of the CAN bus and different kinds of attacks and ways to mitigate them. This paper will try to draft possible solutions to make the CAN Communication protocol more secure and safe.