“Ensuring the integrity of sophisticated on board computers, so that they cannot easily be tampered with by disgruntled employees, thieves, cyber activists and even hacktivist groups - so causing financial loss, reputational damage – or worse, a fatal car crash – must be prioritised during vehicle development and manufacture.” – Grant Taylor, Cryptzone European Vice President

 Cryptzone welcomes the news that anti-virus vendors are researching software to protect the increasingly sophisticated IT systems within motor vehicles, adding that it has been working for some time on governance security principles for automotive component part manufacturers and car makers.

Grant Taylor, European Vice President of the IT threat mitigation specialist, says the automotive industry recognises the increasing part IT security is playing – as modern engine management systems – which are designed to improve safety, efficiency and the driving experience - are largely controlled by onboard computers.

 “Whilst this has made modern vehicles more reliable, affordable and comfortable, this technological evolution is creating a number of new security challenges, meaning that the automotive industry is paying greater attention as to how these computing systems are developed, updated and managed,” he said.

 “By ensuring that system integrity is guaranteed, this helps to assure owners of motor vehicles that their supply chain is unhampered and able to deliver robust levels of security,” he added.

 Taylor went on to say that ensuring the integrity of sophisticated on board computers, so that they cannot easily be tampered with by disgruntled employees, thieves, cyber activists and even hacktivist groups - so causing financial loss, reputational damage – or worse, a fatal car crash – must be prioritised during vehicle development and manufacture.

This is why, he explained, an increasing number of car manufacturers are turning to application whitelisting software to prevent unauthorised program code from affecting their systems - as well as providing downstream suppliers with the ability to legitimately manage and support them.

 “Targeted attacks can be engineered to seek out a very specific machine, infrastructure or geography. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that such attacks could be used to target specific makes and models of cars, perhaps with the intention the discrediting a company,” he said.

 “Application whitelisting adoption is certainly on the rise as vehicle manufacturers prioritise the protection of embedded software,” he added.

 For more on Cryptzone: http://www.cryptzone.com

 For more on the moves to secure vehicle computer systems: http://bit.ly/O8vBsN