Security News > 2023 > June > How secure is your vehicle with digital key technology?

While there are a few different approaches to implementing digital keys for automotive use, a secure digital key standard should utilize near field communications and ultra-wideband in combination with Bluetooth Low Energy to access a vehicle, start the engine, immobilize the vehicle, or authorize a variety of other operations.

To ensure consumer acceptance and support long-term adoption, we must first ensure digital key technology is secure and can effectively protect against the threat of attack.

While these qualities are helpful against relay attacks, digital key technology owes a great portion of its broader security enhancements to the existence of a secure element.

It is within a secure element that all security-critical processing - authentication, encryption, key generation used for owner pairing, key derivation for "Secure ranging", key sharing, vehicle access and engine start transactions, storage of digital keys - takes place.

Some digital key architectures dictate both NFC and UWB interface directly with the secure element and digital key framework, separating them from the mobile device and applications thus adding a necessary level of protection.

There is an increasing number of relay attacks year after year and a secure digital key specification should address these attacks through distance bounding with NFC and secure distance measurement with UWB. These considerations alone are not enough to prevent other types of keyless attacks and why additional measures are taken to secure transactions through the use of a secure element.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/06/15/automotive-digital-key-technology/