How Automotive Fleets Prevent Widespread Cyberattacks

Connected vehicles are already common – and they are the first stage in a future that promises fully automated vehicles. They have become a platform around which advanced technology is coalescing, and much that includes communication technology, such as wifi, 5G Bluetooth, Lidar, etc. And, where there are wireless communication technologies and components, there are hackers not far behind.

There have already been numerous examples of connected vehicles being hacked. Cyber-criminals could dispatch malware to cause mayhem – threatening to compromise braking systems on vehicles if drivers don’t pay a ransom, for example. Cyber defense systems will no doubt be developed to deal with these issues, but like in the non-vehicle tech world, chances are the hackers will always be a couple of steps ahead. While hack attacks on banks and credit card companies – which, with all their cyber-defenses, institutions have been unable to stop – will cost those institutions money, a cyber-attack on a vehicle or fleet could cost lives.

Instead of trying to develop single-solution cyber-defense systems to deal with each new threat, a much better defense system involves using smart technology to detect when a connected vehicle is acting in an anomalous manner – when it is not responding properly in specific situations, when it is downloading or uploading too much data, etc.

Those could be signs of a security breach, and the smart “supervisory” system installed in vehicles could send alerts or even take control of a vehicle, causing it to get off the road and halting it if a breach is suspected. With a system like this, cyber-defenders will be able to turn the tables on hackers – and, at least on connected vehicle platforms, avoid the endless cycle in which new threats are dealt with on an individual basis, and instead are prevented from causing damage in the first place.