Certified TRNG for Automotive

By Dana Neustadter, Product Management, Vincent van der Leest,  Product Marketing (Synopsys)

In today's tech-driven world, security and safety are more critical than ever, especially in the automotive sector. As cars become smarter and more connected, the need for robust cryptographic mechanisms to safeguard data and ensure secure communications grows. For decades, the automotive industry has been implementing numerous strategies to maintain vehicle safety. But now the industry is starting to recognize that these efforts are futile if the vehicle's security is breached. A compromised vehicle can nullify almost any safety feature, creating substantial dangers for passengers and other road users. Consequently, ensuring both safety and security is critical in the design of today's vehicles, since there can be no safety without security.

One essential component in the security infrastructure that modern vehicles require is the True Random Number Generator (TRNG). TRNGs are expected to produce high quality random numbers, which are crucial for preventing security breaches and maintaining data integrity.

Why is TRNG Important for the Automotive Market?

Modern connected and autonomous vehicles are increasingly dependent on internal and external secure communication systems to perform a variety of critical functions. These include inside-vehicle interactions, but also vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), where cars communicate with each other to share information about road conditions and traffic, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), where vehicles exchange data with traffic signals, road sensors, and other infrastructure elements to optimize traffic flow and enhance safety, and vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) for over-the-air updates, remote diagnostics and control.

However, this significant increase in connectivity also brings a heightened level of risk. The more connected a vehicle is, the more potential entry points there are for cyber threats. Unauthorized access to a vehicle’s communication system could lead to a range of dangerous scenarios, from the compromise of personal data to the manipulation of critical vehicle functions, potentially endangering the lives of passengers and other road users.

In this context, a TRNG is a crucial component for safe and secure solutions for several reasons: 

• Cryptographic keys for various security protocols: a TRNG ensures that the cryptographic keys used to secure communications are unpredictable and robust against attacks. This unpredictability is essential for maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data exchanged between vehicles and infrastructure. 
• Authentication: TRNGs play a vital role in generating secure tokens and authentication codes that verify the identity of devices within the network, preventing unauthorized access. 
• Nonce generation and initial counter values for various cryptographic functions: a nonce is a unique, random number used to ensure that communications are secure and not reused. Initial counter values are used in certain encryption modes to ensure that each block of data is processed uniquely. Both concepts are crucial for maintaining the security and integrity of cryptographic functions.
• Entropy: by providing a high level of entropy, TRNGs support the development of secure and resilient communication protocols that can withstand sophisticated cyber-attacks. For example, they help maintain data integrity by generating random numbers for checksums and hash functions, preventing tampering.

Without a reliable TRNG, the security of vehicles will be at risk, leading to potentially severe consequences.

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