IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - November/December 2022 - 99

Authentication and Access Control
Regardless of the communication paradigm, the
sweet spots for cyber attackers include availability,
authentication, integrity, anonymity, and privacy.
These security primitives are common to networks;
however, the environments in which UAVs and AVs
operate, make it easier for the attackers to launch
attacks that target the aforementioned security
primitives. Access control, credential misuse, and
similar related attacks also expand the threat landscape
for both UAVs and AVs. In essence, when
UAVs and AVs are integrated, the services realized
as a result of this integration will need proper context-aware
access control and authentication mechanisms.
Existing attacks against these security
parameters in the UAV-AV integrated network
could be catastrophic.
Physical Security Issues
Physical-layer attacks, such as jamming and
spoofing attacks, add another dimension of security.
One of the main sources of jamming and
spoofing attacks might be GPS signals. When UAVs
plan their route and perform respective maneuvers,
they might exchange sensitive data with AVs
that might play a pivotal role in AV's decision-making.
Thus, jamming such signal will render the services
unavailable and eventually lead to dire
consequences. To this end, Intrusion Detection
System (IDS) has been leveraged to address such
challenges. However, using only IDS might not safeguard
the integratedUAV-AV against such attacks.
In traditional UAV networks, the attacker models
assume the presence of eavesdroppers (both onground
and airborne) that eavesdrop on the communication
channel. We note that it is more challenging
for UAVs to safeguard against such
physical-layer security attacks.
Traditional Security Solutions
So far, trajectory optimization and similar techniques
have been used as security solutions; however,
the role of AV is not taken into account. Shang
et al.7 emphasized on the role of physical-layer
security attacks on the integration of UAVs andAVs
and underscored the need for physical-layer security
solutions. To this end, vehicular nodes may
also act as eavesdroppers on the UAV-AV communications,
which jeopardize the legitimate communication.
In a brief, the attack surface for the
November/December 2022
integrated UAV-AV environment inherits cyberthreats
from both UAVs and AVs and covers both
physical andupper-layer security threats. Although
traditional solutions try to resolve the security
challenges of UAV and AVs, the traditional attacks
on these platforms are still reported in the literature
and are constantly investigated. On that
account, recently, enabling technologies, such as
blockchain and AI, have been leveraged to provide
security solutions for UAVs and AVs. In the following
section, we discuss the existing security solutions
pertaining to UAVs and AVs using futuristic
technologies.
INTEGRATED UAV-AV: ENABLING
TECHNOLOGIES-BASED SECURITY
SOLUTIONS
FANET plays a comprehensive role in the
integration of UAV and AV technologies by providing
a framework for AVs to enhance their
capabilities. As aforementioned, traditional
security mechanisms based on cryptography
and trust are largely used in UAVs and AVs; however,
with the inception of enabling technologies
and the nature of applications in UAV and AV, it
is imperative to harness the benefits of futuristic
enabling technologies. It is worth mentioning
that the article focuses on two such technologies,
i.e., blockchain and AI. The driving factors
behind the use of blockchain and AI in UAV-AV
are several-fold. First, UAVs generate enormous
amount of data, which are the fuel for decisionmaking;
immutability of data, and other transactions,
such as key exchange call for immutable
infrastructure, and thus, blockchain plays an
essential role in this regard. Furthermore, access
control and trust management are also achieved
through optimized blockchain platforms in the
UAV and AV setting. In the following, the role of
blockchain and AI in the security of UAVs and
AVs is discussed (from integration standpoint).
Blockchain
Blockchain technology is a decentralized security
solution that ensures confidentiality, integrity
(immutability), and availability. Blockchain consists
of a ledger, a distributed sequence of block
records that hold information about the transactions
in the network where each block in the chain
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