Automobile manufacturers are rapidly adopting digital transformation. As technology becomes the foundation of the modern automotive enterprise—from connected vehicles and telematics systems through cloud software applications for production, logistics, and customer experience—these applications will promise efficiencies, improved user experiences, and predictive analytics, while increasing the likelihood of more significant vulnerabilities that organizations will need to consider in their cybersecurity protocols.

Why Automotive Digital Systems Are Appealing Targets

Nowadays, cars and automobile software platforms generate significant amounts of sensitive data, such as personal data, location history, and even financial data. To achieve success, automobile connected services, customer service portals, and employee access portals create multiple entry points for malicious actors. Because when hackers breach one area of an automobile system, they recognize many opportunities to breach other areas to access more extensive datasets with the potential to impact millions of customers and employees.

Hyundai AutoEver America, LLC experienced a data breach that demonstrates vulnerabilities inherent in automotive IT systems' cybersecurity practices. While this example impacted just one organization, it provides a real-world demonstration of a common challenge collective industries face: companies must find the correct balance of innovation of digital technologies against sound cybersecurity practices.

Key Vulnerabilities in Automotive IT Systems

• Legacy Systems and Aging Software: Many automotive platforms include legacy software that was never designed with modern security in mind. Unpatched systems, outdated encryption standards, and poorly maintained servers can become easy targets for hackers.
   
• Third-Party Vendors: Automotive companies regularly work with third-party companies to deliver improvement using cloud services, software development, and mobility solutions. While these companies enable a company to innovate quickly, it also creates new attack avenues. A compromised vendor can put multiple systems at risk at once.
   
• IoT and Connected Devices: Today's vehicles have multiple connected devices from infotainment systems to safety sensors. Without monitoring and segmentation, vulnerabilities in one connected device can lead to access to the more expansive network.
   
• Poor Logging and Incident Response: Many organizations still lack real-time monitoring tools that can capture anomalous behavior. A lack of monitoring can mean that unauthorized access can go unnoticed for long periods of time allowing an attacker to exfiltrate sensitive data.

Strategies for Mitigating Cyber Security Risks 

• Implement Zero-Trust Security Models : By allowing users and systems the least level of access necessary, you can begin to address internal and external breach risk. Essentials of a zero trust environment can include multi-factor authentication for users, role-based access for users and machines, and regularly scheduled access reports. 
• Perform Regular Third-Party Supplier Audits : Companies should do their due diligence on third-party vendors to make sure that the software, cloud services, and connected offerings all align with cybersecurity expectations. Third-party contracts should specify a requirement for third-party vulnerability assessments and penetration testing as well. 
• Encrypt Data During All Points of Transfer : Encrypting sensitive data should be a requirement anytime it's at rest as well as during transfer. Outdated practices of encryption should be updated as appropriate and ideally utilize modern-day encryption to protect you from interception and tampering. 
• Network Segmentation and Isolation : Consider utilizing network segmentation and isolating systems that hold high-risks, to ensure the breach does not spread to another critical infrastructure environment. This will be even more critical in a critical environments where fleets and enterprise systems are connected and also exist in the cloud. 
• Continuous Monitoring and Response : By utilizing automated detection systems that can flag anomalous behavior in real time, you can immediately push alerts down to your security experts that can append to incident-response plans and advance planning to mitigate the near interplay of bad actors. 

Conclusion

The automotive sector finds itself at a crossroads of digital transformation and the increasingly complex landscape of cyber threats experienced with our connected vehicles and enterprise IT. While these innovations add tremendous value, they also open us up to vulnerabilities we must be vigilant of. Events such as the Hyundai AutoEver America data breach serve as reminders that cybersecurity must be part of the standard operating procedure for every digital effort. Through proactive risk assessments, strong safeguards, and ongoing system monitoring, the automotive organizations we work with will be able to innovate in secure environments while maintaining the trust of their customers and employees in an increasingly connected climate.