The Need for Cybersecurity in Automotive Industry

Abstract

This research paper analyzes the importance of cybersecurity in the automotive industry and explains how cybersecurity threats impact the modern world of connected, autonomous, and electrical vehicles. Furthermore, this paper covers in-depth research into the different types of automotive cyber threats such as physical, sensor, software, and network attacks on a vehicle, and various methods to prevent these threats from happening in real-world scenarios. The research paper also helps the reader to gain a broader understanding of cybersecurity in the automotive world. The methodology of this research involved analyzing and collecting information through various external websites, articles, and research papers. Information was collected on automotive cybersecurity incidents from news articles and international cyber security conference presentations. Based on this evidence from various external sources, the research problem was supported by factual data. This paper also talks about all the various solutions to cybersecurity threats in depth such as authentication and encryption, malware detection, software analysis, VPNs (Virtual Private Network), and cryptography. This paper also provides information about some of the new regulations and standards that are currently adopted in the automotive industry.  With the rapid change in automotive technology, it is important to be aware that cars can have up to 150 ECUs (Electronic Control Unit) and about 300 million lines of code in near future which could expose more vulnerabilities. (2020, McKinsey & Company). To meet the challenge of these automotive cyber security threats, it is important that awareness should be created among the product engineers and researchers working on future automobiles. This paper attempts at exploring the challenges with automotive cyber security and creating this awareness.