Patent ID: 8819414

Claim:
A method of obtaining a certificate revocation list (CRL) for a vehicle in a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a portable security unit to access secured operations for the vehicle, the portable security unit being relocatable from the vehicle; linking the portable security unit to a network device having access to a communication network, wherein the network device is remote from the vehicle, wherein the communication network is separate from the vehicle-to-vehicle communication system, and wherein the communication network is in communication with a certificate authority for issuing an updated CRL; downloading the updated CRL from the certificate authority to the portable security unit via the communication network; establishing a communication link between the portable security unit and a vehicle processor unit; exchanging mutual authentication between the portable security unit and the vehicle processing unit, wherein the updated CRL stored in the portable security unit is downloaded to a memory of the vehicle in response to a successful mutual authentication; and wherein establishing the link between the portable security unit and a vehicle processing unit is initiated by inserting an ignition key in a vehicle ignition.