AutoSec Crypto Lab
Key management that survives production
Design and operate automotive key hierarchies — provisioning, rotation, storage and revocation — across the vehicle and the backend that supports it.
Primary objectives
- Design a production key hierarchy
- Provision keys securely at end of line
- Operate certificate lifecycles for V2X and OTA
- Analyse cryptographic misuse in real firmware
Overview
What This Lab Is For
Key management is where otherwise sound cryptographic designs fail. The Crypto Lab covers the full lifecycle — hierarchy design, secure provisioning at end of line, certificate operations for OTA and V2X, rotation and revocation — and includes a firmware analysis exercise that shows what misuse actually looks like in shipped code.
Design and operate automotive key hierarchies — provisioning, rotation, storage and revocation — across the vehicle and the backend that supports it.
Learning goals
- Specify a key management concept that passes assessment
- Detect cryptographic weaknesses before they reach production
Technology stack
- PKI
- AES
- ECC
- HSM
- TLS
Tools used
Hardware, Software and Security Tooling
Production-representative equipment and the toolchains engineers use on the job — not simulators standing in for them.
Hardware
Physical targets and instrumentation you will work on directly.
- HSM-equipped evaluation boardHSM
- End-of-line provisioning rigSimulated production key injection environment
- Firmware analysis workstationRig
Security tools
Analysis, testing and cryptographic tooling applied to the targets.
- Key management workbench
- PKI simulation environment
- Firmware crypto analyser
Exercises
2 Assessed Exercises
Each exercise is assessed rather than demonstrated. Durations are indicative and vary with cohort experience.
End-to-end key hierarchy
advancedModel provisioning, rotation and revocation across supplier and OEM boundaries.
- Duration
- 4 hours
Cryptographic misuse hunt
intermediateIdentify weak modes, hardcoded keys and entropy failures in ECU firmware.
- Duration
- 3 hours
Learning outcomes
What You Can Demonstrate Afterwards
An at-a-glance summary — each item is expanded in the sections above and below.
- Skills acquired
2
Assessed competencies, listed in full under Overview above.
- Capability levels
- L3 · Secure DeveloperL6 · Leader
- Programs supported
3
Listed with their capability level in the next section.
Capability framework
Where This Lab Sits in the Framework
All six levels, and this lab’s relationship to each — including the ones it deliberately does not cover.
- Not covered
Level 1 · Awareness
Cybersecurity Awareness
Covered by other labs in the estate
- Not covered
Level 2 · Compliance
Compliance Practitioner
Covered by other labs in the estate
- Supported
Level 3 · Secure Developer
Build secure ECU software, crypto stack integration, SecOC, Secure Boot and HSM skills.
- Not covered
Level 4 · Validation
Security Validation Specialist
Covered by other labs in the estate
- Not covered
Level 5 · Offensive
Offensive Security Expert
Covered by other labs in the estate
- Supported
Level 6 · Leader
Lead CSMS transformation, security governance and enterprise capability programmes.
Common questions
AutoSec Crypto Lab FAQ
What engineers and their managers ask before booking lab time.
- How much cryptography do I need to know already?
- Enough to know what AES and ECC are for. The lab is about key management rather than primitive design — how keys are created, injected, separated by purpose, rotated and revoked across a fleet with a fifteen-year service life.
- Does the lab cover post-quantum considerations?
- It covers them as a planning problem rather than an implementation one: what a fifteen-year vehicle lifetime implies for algorithm agility, and how a key hierarchy should be structured so migration is possible at all.
- What is the firmware misuse exercise?
- You analyse real ECU firmware images for weak modes, hardcoded keys and entropy failures. It is consistently the exercise that changes how participants review their own code afterwards.
Get Your Engineers Into the AutoSec Crypto Lab
Lab access is included with the programs above, and can be delivered onsite, remotely or as part of a corporate academy.