From infotainment systems to new auto safety features, cars are getting increasingly high-tech. These systems are bringing all kinds of benefits; however, they may also be presenting new risks for vehicle owners and occupants such as hacking dangers.
As software comes to play a bigger role in cars, the number of vehicle functions and systems that cyberattacks could potentially disrupt grows. Unfortunately, it is likely they will continue to grow as self-driving systems become more developed and connected vehicles become more common.
A recent survey raises concerns about how automakers are responding to this potential danger. In the survey, automotive engineers, IT professionals and product developers were polled about vehicles and cybersecurity. Of the survey respondents:
- 84% expressed worries that automakers aren’t keeping up with changing security threats
- 62% reported that their organizations lacked the cybersecurity skills necessary to provide sufficient protection
- Over half said that automakers lack sufficient resources to fight cybersecurity threats
As is the case with many other cybersecurity threats, vehicle hacking could put people’s personal information at risk. However, data security is not the only thing these attacks could affect.
Hackers getting access to vehicle systems could also create major traffic safety dangers. Because attacks can take over or disrupte control of safety systems in a vehicle, it could lead to serious auto accidents.
Cybersecurity in vehicles is a major safety issue. Therefore, what automakers do to try to close any gap between their cybersecurity capabilities and the vulnerabilities new auto systems create matters a great deal.
What do you think the future will hold? What would you like to see automakers do to help prevent cyberattacks that could create crash risks?