OpenEAS

OpenEAS (Open Embedded Authentication System) is the title of my thesis. It is a complete solution to send/receive data from a smartphone app to a control unit in the car (CAN bus) in a secure way. It consists of a smartphone app (Android) and an embedded control unit. The main goals of the system are:

• High security to make it hard to hack/break in
• Modular system (use for multiple applications: automotive, connected industry, smart home)
• Low cost / off the shelf materials (only around 250€)

OpenEAS app running on Android smartphone

Electric vehicle “Renault Twizy” connected to OpenEAS

Technical details

• The smartphone app communicates via encrypted Wi-Fi (WPA2) to the control unit
• The communication protocol is also encrypted (HTTPS with TLS)
• The clients (smartphone app) are authenticated via client certificates
• The pairing is done via a QR code scanned by the user with the smartphone app
• Uses CAN bus to communicate with car / industrial machines
• Includes an additional tamper resistant embedded device that stores secret keys
• No internet connection

Thesis award of IHK Trier

My thesis won the price of the sponsor "Industrie- und Handelskammer Trier" in 2016:

Used technologies

Android SDK Python Debian Embedded Electronics Security