Cars are becoming more advanced but also more sensitive to cyber attacks. Outside Borås there is a lab for cyber security – where they work to counter attacks from hackers. – It is a constant battle where the automotive industry tries to protect itself and the hackers are constantly trying to find new ways around the protections, says Tomas Bodeklint, research and business developer at the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE). It is the state research institute Research Institute of Sweden (RISE) that offers the test environment to vehicle manufacturers. The lab is one of Europe’s most advanced and here new vehicles are exposed to simulated hacker attacks. – The vehicle industry works feverishly to protect the vehicles. But they are not stronger than the weakest link, cyber security is an ecosystem and the whole system must be secure. You have to work together with the entire chain and that’s where we at RISE can help, says Tomas Bodeklint. Hackers can do that to your car As cars become more connected and advanced, the possible attack surfaces for malicious actors also increase. In 2030, 95 percent of all new vehicles sold are expected to be connected, and the number of cyber attacks is already increasing today. There are a number of different things malicious actors can do to a car. Locking functions can be disabled, making it easy to steal the car, but a hacker can also encrypt the car’s data and demand a ransom to solve the problem. The global automotive industry is expected to lose SEK 5,000 billion to cybercriminals next year. One of the big worries is what other information is in the cars as we increasingly connect them with other electronics. – A vehicle today is much more than just a vehicle. It’s almost a mobile phone, you have bluetooth, wi-fi, you connect them to your smart home. All this creates possible attack paths for a hacker, says Tomas Bodeklint. “Can have enormous resources” According to Tomas Bodeklint, there are three categories of hackers. The criminals, who want to make money through extortion or theft. Individual actors who just want to prove their competence by breaking through advanced defense systems. Then there are also terrorists, who want to spread anxiety and panic in societies. – Terrorists are the most dangerous group, they can be backed by a hostile state and have enormous resources, says Tomas Bodeklint.
t4-general
The hackers’ new target: Your car
