Authors:
K. R. Shivsankar, Abhiram Chintalapati, T. Senthil Kumar, J. Jayapradha, Mardeni Bin Roslee

Addresses:
Department of Computing Technologies, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Faculty of Artificial Intelligence and Engineering, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract:

Over-the-Air (OTA) is a critical resource for maintaining the security and functionality of modern-age electric vehicles. However, the existing mechanisms are very vulnerable to unauthorised tampering with firmware updates, update injection, inefficient key management, and replay attacks. This paper presents an enhanced framework that addresses the six main critical issues in implementing Uptane. (i) Susceptibility to Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, (ii) payload confidentiality gaps, (iii) resource constraints in secondary ECU verification, (iv) multi-signature verification bottlenecks, (v) the absence of formal security proofs, and (vi) a lack of quantum resistance. Secure EV introduces a mandatory end-to-end encryption via ECDH and AES-256-GCM and a hybrid post-quantum cryptography scheme combining ECDSA with ML-DSA. The experimental simulation demonstrates that SecureEV-OTA achieves a 90% reduction in DOS exploitation, a 50% improvement in multi-signature verification speed, and a 50% reduction in memory overhead for the Constrained ECU. These upgrades provide a scalable, future-ready security layer while maintaining full compatibility with the Uptane architecture. 

Keywords: Over the Air Updates (OTA); Post-Quantum Cryptography; ML-DSA and AES-256-GCM; Batch Verification; ECU Security; Security and Functionality; Unauthorised Tampering; Uptane Architecture.

Received on: 22/07/2025, Revised on: 09/09/2025, Accepted on: 18/11/2025, Published on: 31/03/2026

DOI: 10.69888/FTSCIS.2026.000709

FMDB Transactions on Sustainable Critical Infrastructures, 2026 Vol. 1 No. 1, Pages: 1-15

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