Invited: Cooperation or competition? Coexistence of safety and security in next-generation Ethernet-based automotive networks

Safety is traditionally the most relevant property for automotive systems, and it is further enhanced by Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in modern automotive systems. To support ADAS and other advanced autonomous functions, automotive electronic systems become more distributed and connected than ever, with in-vehicle architecture or Vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication. These connections create a variety of interfaces which become breeding grounds for security attacks. Accordingly, security becomes a rising issue for automotive systems. In this paper, we address safety and security together, especially their interactions, in Ethernet-based automotive networks which are believed to be the next-generation automotive networks since they are able to provide high bandwidths, certain timing guarantees, and well-developed technologies. We discuss the interactions between safety and security in three problems: secret key management, frame replication and elimination, and Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) segmentation. We demonstrate that safety and security can work together, but sometimes there is a trade-off between them. This indicates that safety cannot stand alone without considering security, and network security is a necessary component of system security. Towards safer and securer automotive systems, safety and security should be considered together during design stages of automotive systems.