On a simulation study of cyber attacks on vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (V2I) in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

An intelligent transportation system (ITS) is one typical cyber-physical system (CPS) that aims to provide efficient, effective, reliable, and safe driving experiences with minimal congestion and effective traffic flow management. In order to achieve these goals, various ITS technologies need to work synergistically. Nonetheless, ITS’s reliance on wireless connectivity makes it vulnerable to cyber threats. Thus, it is critical to understand the impact of cyber threats on ITS. In this paper, using real-world transportation dataset, we evaluated the consequences of cyber threats – attacks against service availability by jamming the communication channel of ITS. In this way, we can have a better understanding of the importance of ensuring adequate security respecting safety and life-critical ITS applications before full and expensive real-world deployments. Our experimental data shows that cyber threats against service availability could adversely affect traffic efficiency and safety performances evidenced by exacerbated travel time, fuel consumed, and other evaluated performance metrics as the communication network is compromised. Finally, we discuss a framework to make ITS secure and more resilient against cyber threats.