# Automotive Cyber Security
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2017-12-07
Category: TECHNOLOGY
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/technology
Meta Title: Automotive Cybersecurity: A ticking time bomb we may just
Meta Description: Riot explores the challenges automakers face in securing connected cars from cyberattacks, highlighting the urgency for unified cybersecurity strategies.
URL: https://financedigest.com/automotive-cyber-securityhtml

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A ticking time bomb we may just prevent from going off…

Automakers are crossing their fingers and hoping that connected cars will not be attacked.  They refuse to work together and instead are moving forward with a multiplicity of security strategies which will be weaker than not going down the standards route.

Automakers are being all too slowly drawn to modern security techniques to plug the security holes in connected cars. Riot questions whether that transition can happen [swiftly enough](https://www.financedigest.com/ecb-must-swiftly-normalise-rates-neutral-may-not-be-enough-knot-says.html "ECB must swiftly normalise rates; neutral may not be enough, Knot says") to avert potential disaster.

There are already tens of [millions of vehicles](https://www.financedigest.com/hydrogen-vehicle-market-is-projected-to-reach-valuation-of-us-150-million-during-forecast-period-2031.html "Hydrogen Vehicle Market Is Projected To Reach Valuation Of US$ 150 Million During Forecast Period, 2031") in the US which are connected via LTE or other cellular connections to the internet, opening them up to a straightforward IP attack. As the attack surface grows, closing in on 100 [million cars](https://www.financedigest.com/ford-to-invest-around-300-million-to-build-electric-car-parts-at-uk-plant.html "Ford to invest around 0 million to build electric car parts at UK plant"), they make a more tempting target for organized crime, nation state attacks, terrorists, and random hackers.

The simple question is can the major automakers make them truly safe, before someone mounts a successful attack – whether that is one car at a time, or a fleet of hundreds of thousands at once.

In this paper, titled Automotive Cybersecurity: A ticking time bomb we may just prevent from going off, Riot takes an in-depth look at how professional security businesses are trying to steer automakers towards safety, and asks how many more [years before they will be reasonably well](https://www.financedigest.com/why-well-look-back-on-2022-as-a-defining-year-for-fintech.html "Why we’ll look back on 2022 as a defining year for fintech") protected.

But in this investigation Riot finds that automakers are not going down the obvious route of agreeing a standard, and moving rapidly [towards its implementation in their next generation](https://www.financedigest.com/the-next-generation-dermatoscopes-market-show-a-steep-inclination-towards-digitization.html "The Next Generation Dermatoscopes Market show a steep inclination towards digitization") of connected cars.

Instead each of them is attacking the problem their own way, on their own turf, [moving towards](https://www.financedigest.com/the-orange-essential-oil-market-to-move-towards-constructive-advancements.html "The Orange Essential Oil Market To Move Towards Constructive Advancements") a new security architecture one step at a time, with each using a variety of techniques, from long encryption keys, deep packet inspection, virtual signatures, and daily over-the-air (OTA) updates.

Much of it [owes something to Private Key](https://www.financedigest.com/north-american-market-for-veterinary-respiratory-ventilators-to-hold-lions-share-owing-to-presence-of-major-key-players-fact-mr-report.html "North American Market for Veterinary Respiratory Ventilators to Hold Lion’s Share Owing to Presence of Major Key Players: Fact.MR Report") Infrastructure (PKI), but not all of it, and each of them is looking at systems like ARM Trustzone to define a safe hardware Root of Trust (RoT). This approach will mean there is more room for more suppliers in the short term, but could just as likely mean that some automakers will remain vulnerable for some time to come. The lack of progress among some smaller [car makers](https://www.financedigest.com/exclusive-indian-car-makers-propose-tax-cut-on-imports-in-trade-deal-with-britain.html "Exclusive-Indian car makers propose tax cut on imports in trade deal with Britain") is quite frightening.

In the long term it is likely that the eventually successful [security system will be open source](https://www.financedigest.com/how-open-source-technology-is-securing-the-future-of-financial-services.html "How open-source technology is securing the future of financial services"), as much because Chinese companies refuse to rely on proprietary US systems which they have to license, or vice versa.

But most car makers already understand that they must separate network traffic into different domains, in a manner very similar to current techniques used in enterprise networking.

So as the automotive industry is entering what is a difficult transition period, it is still years from a standardized [approach to securing](https://www.financedigest.com/as-saas-grows-financial-services-must-rethink-their-security-approach.html "As SaaS grows, financial services must rethink their security approach") vehicles in a hyper-connected world and the clock is ticking. If one vendor manages to [defend his turf](https://www.financedigest.com/german-automakers-fight-to-defend-their-turf-from-chinese-rivals.html "German automakers fight to defend their turf from Chinese rivals"), at the expense of a standardized approach, the mayhem around a single destructive hack of any car, even a rival brand, will still create industry-wide hysteria.

This puts us in mind of the early cellular industry, before the GSMA took control and standardized everything.

And yet [across the entire ecosystem](https://www.financedigest.com/open-finance-can-help-unlock-innovation-across-the-financial-ecosystem.html "Open Finance can help unlock innovation across the financial ecosystem"), multi-layered services are all preparing for industry-wide launch – first in the US, and then more broadly.  These range from generic navigation, in-car entertainment services, to safety, such as vehicle location [services and remote](https://www.financedigest.com/constructive-digitization-to-let-the-remote-patient-monitoring-services-market-come-of-age.html "Constructive digitization to let the Remote Patient Monitoring Services Market come of age") restart.

Today we are at the beginning of such services and a handful of brands have truly useful [car](https://www.financedigest.com/car-rental-service-market-is-forecasted-to-grow-at-a-7-2-cagr-by-2031-comprehensive-research-report-by-fmi.html "Car Rental Service Market is forecasted to grow at a 7.2% CAGR By 2031- Comprehensive Research Report by FMI") services, which currently extend to only a single-digit percentages of their owners. But expectation is high that a wider gamut of driver, owner and manufacturer [services are just around the corner](https://www.financedigest.com/double-and-triple-extortion-tactics-cornering-financial-services-organisations.html "Double and triple extortion tactics cornering financial services organisations ").

The more beneficial such services become, and the more widely they are installed, the more likely they are to be attacked, either to disrupt [revenue or ultimately as a route into remote physical control](https://www.financedigest.com/hospital-acquired-infection-control-market-global-leading-companies-analysis-revenue-trends-and-forecasts-2027.html "Hospital Acquired Infection Control Market Global Leading Companies Analysis, Revenue, Trends and Forecasts 2027") of a vehicle.

What follows are the accounts of security stakeholders in the [automotive industry](https://www.financedigest.com/automotive-soft-trim-interior-materials-market-size-key-players-growth-factors-regions-and-applications-industry-forecast-by-2026.html "Automotive Soft Trim Interior Materials Market Size, Key Players, Growth Factors, Regions and Applications, Industry Forecast by 2026"), capturing perspectives from suppliers – because the automakers themselves collectively declined our repeated requests for interviews. This is another case of security by obscurity, a strategy the [technology industry](https://www.financedigest.com/advertys-multi-patented-and-industry-leading-in-game-viewability-technology-brainimpression-now-available-within-oracle-moat.html "Adverty’s Multi-patented and Industry-leading In-game Viewability Technology BrainImpression™ Now Available Within Oracle Moat") knows has never worked – by keeping all their thoughts about security a strict secret.

The real route to [security is through open](https://www.financedigest.com/open-banking-as-a-means-to-enhance-social-commerce-security.html "Open banking as a means to enhance social commerce security") standards, which can be hardened by a wide base of users finding different attack vectors during the standardization process, and then sealing such exploits, in the same way the humble SIM card came about.


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