AutoSec Secure Development Lab
Harden ECU software on real hardware
Implement secure boot, SecOC and hardened diagnostic services on automotive-grade microcontrollers, then prove your controls hold under review and test.
Primary objectives
- Implement secure boot on an automotive microcontroller
- Integrate an HSM-backed key hierarchy
- Apply SecOC to a CAN communication matrix
- Harden UDS diagnostic access control
Overview
What This Lab Is For
The Secure Development Lab is where cryptographic theory meets a startup timing budget. Participants implement a verified chain of trust on automotive-grade microcontrollers — secure boot, an HSM-backed key hierarchy, SecOC on a live CAN matrix — and then prove the controls hold under test rather than asserting that they do.
Implement secure boot, SecOC and hardened diagnostic services on automotive-grade microcontrollers, then prove your controls hold under review and test.
Learning goals
- Ship ECU software with a verifiable chain of trust
- Integrate cryptographic services without breaking timing budgets
Technology stack
- AUTOSAR
- HSM
- SecOC
- UDS
- C
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.
- Automotive-grade evaluation boardMicrocontroller with on-chip hardware security module
- Hardware security moduleKey storage and cryptographic acceleration
- JTAG debugger and trace probeDebugger
- CAN bus interfaceBus interface
- Automotive-grade evaluation boards
- Debugger and trace probe
Software
Toolchains and development environments used during the exercises.
- HSM firmware toolchain
Exercises
2 Assessed Exercises
Each exercise is assessed rather than demonstrated. Durations are indicative and vary with cohort experience.
Secure boot chain of trust
advancedBuild and verify a signed bootloader with rollback protection.
- Duration
- 5 hours
SecOC on a CAN bus
advancedAdd authentication and freshness to safety-relevant CAN frames.
- Duration
- 4 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
4
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 Secure Development Lab FAQ
What engineers and their managers ask before booking lab time.
- What programming experience does the lab assume?
- Working embedded C and comfort with a debugger. Cryptographic background is not assumed — key hierarchies and primitives are taught from the automotive constraint outward rather than from the mathematics.
- Why does timing come up so often?
- Because it is the constraint that defeats most first implementations. A body controller may have tens of milliseconds before it must respond on the bus, and serial verification of a large image does not fit. The lab makes you solve that rather than describe it.
- Is the hardware the same as production silicon?
- Production-representative evaluation hardware with the same security features. Engineering samples behave differently from production parts in exactly the areas that matter — debug locking in particular — and the lab covers where those differences bite.
Get Your Engineers Into the AutoSec Secure Development Lab
Lab access is included with the programs above, and can be delivered onsite, remotely or as part of a corporate academy.