MASc Seminar: Vehicular Networks: A Rule-Based CAN Intrusion Detection System Using IoT Edge Architecture

Wednesday, December 20, 2023 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Candidate: Taylor Lee

Date: December 20, 2023

Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Place: E5 5047

Supervisor(s): Sebastian Fischmeister

Abstract:

The increasing interconnectivity of modern safety-critical embedded systems has led to

an ever-increasing attack surface. The automotive and maritime industries are but two

industries that use safety-critical embedded systems. A common protocol used in both

industries is the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, which has been proven to have

multiple security flaws.

This thesis proposes a novel rules-based CAN Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to

protect against possible attacks via the CAN protocol and alert end users. A rules-based

approach was chosen due to the ability to dynamically adapt to the varying state of CAN

messages. The proposed rules-based CAN IDS leverages an IoT (Internet of Things)

architecture to provide centralized management of the IDS and to give the capability of

deploying the IDS at scale. This thesis tests the proposed rules-based CAN IDS on two

real-world systems that use the J1939 and NMEA 2000 protocols, with the primary testing

performed on a 2016 Peterbilt 579 truck.