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Want to know what cybersecurity engineering in the automotive industry encompasses? Join us for a short car ride and we'll explain the essentials. 

The Automotive Cybersecurity Engineering pocket guide

This pocket guide supports R&D departments in the structured development of automotive electronics for connected vehicles. To this end, it provides a quick overview of legal requirements such as UNECE and conveys basic knowledge of international standards such as ISO/SAE 21434. 

A state-of-the-art car provides access to numerous digital services. But connectivity also paves the way for potential attacks. Maybe not today, but tomorrow: Over time, more effective hacking tools will be available on the darknet. That means cybersecurity has an expiration date. As hackers' capabilities increase, a car manufacturer will need to invest in cybersecurity controls for as long as a car is allowed on the road. There is no such thing as a safe state, and so developments must continue throughout the years.

Cybersecurity in the automotive industry is about ensuring the security of the connected car throughout its lifetime.

During all the years that the vehicles in a fleet are on the road, engineers have to ensure that they are safe and secure. Therefore, they must be provided with patches and updates.

To this end, the UNECE, a United Nations commission that harmonizes vehicle certification in Europe, Japan and South Korea, requires automakers to establish a cybersecurity management system.

This management system must include

  • Control
  • Policies
  • Roles
  • Responsibilities
  • Culture
  • Reviews
Don't tackle cybersecurity as an afterthought.

In practice, updatability requires a lot of preparatory work to make it run as smoothly as possible.

This first involves disciplined engineering

  1. Configuration management
  2. Clean programming
  3. Cybersecurity validation

Second, it takes a vehicle E/E architecture and a cybersecurity concept, i.e., allocating cybersecurity controls to that architecture or other engineering touch points.

Today's design decisions will determine whether engineers succeed in making the connected car secure.
We're here for you

Need support with a key project? We’re your first port of call when it comes to management consulting and improvement programmes in electronics development.

Steffen Herrmann and the sales team

We can support you with

  • Fostering awareness for the need for comprehensive end-to-end safeguards
  • Detailed assessments of any threats posed 
  • Matching your cybersecurity policies to processes, products and IT requirements; managing involved specialists
  • Assessing and improving your development processes with respect to security issues
  • Adapting existing workflows and procedures to address key cybersecurity issues
  • Ensuring systems conform to UNECE homologation guidelines
  • Definition and introduction of new development processes in keeping with the requirements of ISO/SAE 21434
  • Evaluation, development and implementation of cybersecurity management systems
  • Selection of relevant security technology and industry standards according to your requirements

Download Pocket Guide