A Systematic Literature Review of Simulated Cyber Attacks on Vehicles and Urban Traffic Control

This article presents a comprehensive study on the simulation of cyber-attacks and potential countermeasures within Urban Traffic Control (UTC) systems. The growing complexity of UTC systems, aimed at improving traffic efficiency, safety, and exploiting connectivity and autonomous capabilities, is leading to increased attack surfaces and vulnerabilities. The potential to exploit these vulnerabilities to adversely affect the system and its users makes them a desirable target, hence the need to increase understanding of the impact coming from security incidents. There is a large volume of research investigating focused attacks and their mitigation in UTC systems; however, there is an absence of understanding of this body of knowledge, identifying challenges and unaddressed areas. To address this gap, this study analyses simulations of attacks against UTC components and connected vehicles, incorporating current mitigation strategies published in recent literature. It discusses the implications of these vulnerabilities for public safety and traffic management, proposing future research directions to address the identified challenges. Six prevalent challenges are identified in the field, emphasising the importance of up-to-date simulations for reliable integration into real-time systems. The findings aim to strengthen UTC systems against cyber threats, contributing to the overarching goal of safeguarding lives and optimising urban traffic flow.