BlackBerry Advances its Commitment to Building a Secure Autonomous Future

To mark National Autonomous Vehicle Day, BlackBerry Limited announced that the company has joined the OmniAir Consortium as an executive member to help advance the testing, certification, and deployment of technologies for connected vehicles and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).  BlackBerry successfully demonstrated the interoperability of its V2X certificates at the May 2018 OmniAir MotorCity PlugFest.

“The future of connected vehicles relies on secure communication between vehicles and city infrastructure, other vehicles, and smart devices,” said Jim Alfred, vice president and GM of BlackBerry Certicom. “In order to realize this potential, cars need to talk to one another and to their environment in the same language and with the same protocols to ensure they can trust that communication. The new security credential management system we are announcing today will enhance the security, trustworthiness, and ultimately the safety of V2X communications.”

SCMS – A Secure System to Underpin V2X Communication

V2X communication is the next frontier of connected car capability, allowing for real-time communication between vehicles, road-side equipment, city infrastructure, and smart devices. V2X connectivity provides information to enable safer driving, thereby helping to prevent accidents, reduce congestion and lower emissions through optimized mobility and improved traffic coordination.

The success of V2X technology, however, depends on cybersecurity and the trusted verification of each and every message that is sent or received between and among cars and things like traffic lights or road signs. The system must be designed so that hackers cannot harm the public interest by modifying V2X messages in transit from certified devices.

Available in Fall 2018, BlackBerry's security credential management system (SCMS) will secure the communication of vehicles with each other and with roadside equipment in two ways: digital signatures, which protect messages against manipulation, and certificates, which identify the sender as trustworthy.

BlackBerry’s SCMS will enable OEMs, suppliers, municipal infrastructure makers and roadside equipment manufacturers to implement V2X security protocols in their automotive embedded systems. Connected vehicles and devices will be able to enrol in the SCMS, obtain security certificates from authorized Certificate Authorities and use those certificates to sign V2X messages.

Advancing the Testing, Certification and Deployment of Connected Vehicle Technologies

The OmniAir Consortium develops testing and certification programs for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) devices as part of its mission to promote a robust, secure communications system for cooperative driving.

OmniAir Consortium’s members work together to promote the deployment of secure and interoperable connected vehicle technologies. Members also work cooperatively to address technical challenges and to advance independent, third-party testing and certification.

“We are delighted to have BlackBerry as part of OmniAir and help us progress our efforts to standardize the certification process of V2X devices,” said Jason Conley, Executive Director for OmniAir. “Building and managing a V2X device certification program is critical to creating a secure and interoperable V2X ecosystem and BlackBerry’s deep expertise in operating Certification Authorities for the trusted device space will further strengthen OmniAir’s V2X interoperability program.”

BlackBerry – Leading the Way in Secure and Trusted V2X Communications

In 2009, BlackBerry acquired Certicom, a specialist in Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and the inventor of the implicit certificate and butterfly key concepts which are being leveraged in V2X communications. The application of these concepts enables security with efficiency for the future connected car and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

BlackBerry Certicom pioneered the use of high-scale public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions for mobile, smart metering and telematics applications, developing technology that has secured hundreds of millions of devices. Its PKI services leverage trusted, reliable, BlackBerry infrastructure to provide global reach and support OEMs, road operators and government stakeholders with a vested interest in assuring the robustness of connected and autonomous cars.