Fleet-Level Blockchain Validation for Vehicle Software Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex vehicles like aircraft face significant cybersecurity challenges due to the potential for malicious actors to alter microprocessor instructions in software updates, leading to abnormal operations or failures, which can impair flight safety and are difficult to detect as false alarms within Integrated Vehicle Health Management systems.
Innovation Solution
A fleet-level cybersecurity analysis system that identifies and validates proposed software and firmware updates for hardware components by using a ground-based computing system to analyze encrypted signature blocks within a series of linked blockchain files, ensuring the absence of cybersecurity threats before implementation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cybersecurity measures are implemented for software updates in vehicle hardware components, then security protection is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary cybersecurity validation by analyzing encrypted signature blocks in proposed software updates before they are installed in vehicle hardware components. The ground-based computing system performs fleet-level cybersecurity analysis on update packages, validating encrypted signature blocks against known threats and fleet-wide security patterns. This preliminary action ensures security protection is established before deployment, preventing malicious code execution while managing system complexity through automated pre-validation processes.
2Measurement precision
If fleet-level cybersecurity analysis is implemented, then detection capability is improved, but information processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and validates only the critical encrypted signature blocks from proposed software updates, rather than analyzing entire software packages. The ground-based computing system specifically targets encrypted signature blocks for fleet-level cybersecurity analysis, isolating the essential security validation elements from the larger update data. This extraction approach enhances threat detection capability by focusing on signature block patterns while reducing overall data processing volume compared to comprehensive software analysis.
3Reliability
If off-board validation of software updates is performed, then security integrity is improved, but update deployment time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs off-board validation of encrypted signature blocks in proposed software updates before deployment to vehicle hardware components. The ground-based computing system conducts fleet-level cybersecurity analysis on update packages, validating encrypted signature blocks against known threats and fleet-wide security patterns. This preliminary validation ensures software update integrity is established before deployment, preventing malicious code execution while managing deployment time through automated pre-validation processes.
4Reliability
If blockchain technology is used for update validation, then security trust is improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes blockchain technology to create immutable copies of validated encrypted signature blocks from software updates. The ground-based computing system validates encrypted signature blocks and records them in a blockchain structure, creating a trusted, tamper-proof record of valid updates. This copying approach improves security trust by providing an immutable validation history that can be verified by fleet systems, while managing computational complexity by storing validated signatures on-chain rather than performing repeated complex validation computations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, implemented by a ground-based computing system, identifies cybersecurity threats originating from proposed updates to software, firmware or configuration file instructions resident in hardware components in a fleet of vehicles. In a proposed update, a valid encrypted signature block of the developer must be present. The proposed update is contained as a last file of a series of linked sequential blockchain files of prior updates. Upon a determination that the proposed update contains a valid signature block and is the last file in a validated series of linked blockchain files, the update is analyzed for any cybersecurity threats. If no cybersecurity threats are found, the update is transmitted to the vehicles in the fleet for implementation in the respective hardware components.