Chrysler Secure Gateway
CHRYSLER SECURE GATEWAY Protecting SWG vehicle control systems from hackers
J By Edwin Hazzard
Just when you think you have the automotive industry figured out, another curveball comes your way. The automotive industry continues to change and evolve at an alarming rate. In order to be successful in this industry, you have to roll with the changes. If you don’t update, you will evaporate. Some of the changes in this industry present challenges that are very hard for technicians and shop owners to cope with. A lot of it boils down to the learning curve and the costs associated with it. Major changes can be an expense not only to the shop owner, but also for the technician. For the shop owner it can be a monetary expense as the shop will have to spend money to update their equipment and their technician training standards. For the technician, the extra time spent training along with spending money on equipment that the shop does not provide can be a burden on some. No matter which end of the spectrum you find yourself on, when the manufacturers decide to make a change, the independent repair shops pay the ultimate price. As most of you have heard by now, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) (see Figure 1) has made changes to its proprietary software protocol. As part of a comprehensive approach to safeguard its vehicles from cyber attacks, FCA has implemented a Secure Gateway (SGW) module in the electrical architecture, starting with most 2018 model
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Figure 1: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has integrated security software into their vehicles to prevent unauthorized access.
year vehicles. This module functions as a secure firewall that protects external access to the vehicle via the radio and diagnostic connector from the rest of the vehicle network. The SGW gates all data exchanged between the “outside world” (e.g., diagnostic tools, incoming signals to radio/head unit) and the “vehicle,” and it determines what commands to allow through the gateway based on an approved list. The SGW does not restrict access to diagnostic data. It restricts the ability of non-registered and nonauthenticated users to perform intrusive diagnostics such as bi-directional controls. The SGW can control the level of access for each user, based on an assigned role determined during an authentication process.
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