Vehicular over-the-air software upgrade threat modelling

The final step enables attack vector threat analysis and mitigation. The final contribution comes from actionable cybersecurity recommendations for software upgrade systems, providing threat mitigation recommendations for their secure implementation. Knowledge of potential long-range wireless attacks and other OTA system threats provides a foundation for stakeholders’ strategic investment in cybersecurity risk reduction.

This investment is needed to address a dilemma. On the one hand, OTA systems are a useful technology for updating the software in cyber-physical systems, however, they do provide a potential conduit for cyber attacks. Whilst this work researched vehicular OTA systems, it could be applied to other cyber-physical systems that require secure software updates over a lifecycle.