"SwRI Hacks Electric Vehicle Charging to Demonstrate Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities"
Engineers at Southwest Research Institute simulated an attack on the charging process of an electric vehicle (EV) to bring further attention to the cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with EV charging. They reverse-engineered the signals and circuits on an EV and a J1772 charger. Using a spoofing device developed with inexpensive hardware and software, the SwRI team were able to disrupt EV charging. The man-in-the-middle (MITM) device can spoof signals between a vehicle and a charger. The team demonstrated the possibility of limiting the rate at which an EV is charged, blocking battery charging, and overcharging. The purpose of this project is to identify potential threats facing common EV charging hardware as the adoption of EVs continues to grow. This article continues to discuss the SwRI team's demonstrated hacks on the EV charging process, the MITM device used to perform these hacks, the future of this research, the expected growth in vehicle electrification, and the importance of unveiling the cybersecurity-related issues of charging infrastructure.