A Global Survey of Standardization and Industry Practices of Automotive Cybersecurity Validation and Verification Testing Processes and Tools

The United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation 155—Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Management System (UN R155) mandates the development of cybersecurity management systems (CSMS) as part of a vehicle’s lifecycle. An inherent component of the CSMS is cybersecurity risk management and assessment. Validation and verification testing is a key activity for measuring the effectiveness of risk management, and it is mandated by UN R155 for type approval. Due to the focus of R155 and its suggested implementation guideline, ISO/SAE 21434:2021—Road Vehicle Cybersecurity Engineering, mainly centering on the alignment of cybersecurity risk management to the vehicle development lifecycle, there is a gap in knowledge of proscribed activities for validation and verification testing. This research provides guidance on automotive cybersecurity testing and verification by providing an overview of the state-of-the-art in relevant automotive standards, outlining their transposition into national regulation and the currently used processes and tools in the automotive industry. Through engagement with state-of-the-art literature and workshops and surveys with industry groups, our study found that national regulatory authorities are moving to enshrine UN R155 as part of their vehicle regulations, with differences of implementation based on regulatory culture and pre-existing approaches to vehicle regulation. Validation and verification testing is developing aligned to UN R155 and ISO21434:2021; however, the testing approaches currently used within industry utilize elements of traditional enterprise information technology methods for penetration testing and toolsets. Electrical/electronic (E/E) components such as embedded control units (ECUs) are considered the primary testing target; however, connected and autonomous vehicle technologies are increasingly attracting more focus for testing.