Electric vehicle charging station software needs better security checks
Wicked Problem, Parsimonious Solution: Securing Electric Vehicle Charging Station Software
Cryptography and SecuritySoftware Engineering
Summary
Electric vehicle charging stations have software that can be easy targets for hackers, which could cause problems for the charging network and users. The authors point out that the software currently lacks good protection and is not well understood in terms of its weak spots. They suggest using a method called hierarchical software quality assurance (HSQA) to carefully check and improve the safety and quality of this software throughout its development. HSQA helps by looking at everything from small security issues to bigger security goals like keeping data safe. This approach aims to better protect the charging stations from cyber attacks.
electric vehicle charging stationcyber-physical threatssoftware vulnerabilitieshierarchical software quality assuranceCVEsCIA Triadsoftware development lifecyclecybersecurityattack surfacesoftware quality
Authors
Emma Sheppard, Zachary Wadhams, Dalton Arford, Clemente Izurieta, Ann Marie Reinhold
Abstract
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure presents a suite of novel cyber-physical threats. Among this infrastructure, charging stations are the most vulnerable elements. The software in the charging station supply equipment is particularly vulnerable. Currently, the software is an attack surface that is largely unprotected and poorly characterized. To represent the vulnerabilities in this attack surface, we advocate for applying modern software quality assurance to characterize vulnerabilities in electric vehicle charging station software. Specifically, we advocate for the application of hierarchical software quality assurance (HSQA) to specialized electric vehicle charging station software. HSQA provides a comprehensive view of the code quality and security -- from the level of individual vulnerabilities (e.g., CVEs) to high level characteristics (e.g., CIA Triad). HSQA incorporates quality and security considerations throughout the software development lifecycle. Thus, our position is that HSQA is an excellent approach for assessing electrical vehicle charging station software.