The new affiliation with the nonprofit Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or Auto-ISAC, reflects Harman’s commitment to working with other companies and associations in the auto industry to protect internet-enabled “connected cars,” company executives said. In a related move, Harman closed in March on the acquisition of TowerSec, an automotive cybersecurity firm.
“It’s a close club,” said Saar Dickman, Harman’s vice president of automotive security, who previously served as CEO of TowerSec. “We share some of the information that helps to forge the next generation of security for the industry. They really appreciate our vision of looking forward at what the challenges will be, what solutions are valid and looking at it from the attackers’ perspective. We’re very credible.”
Auto-ISAC has developed a series of auto cybersecurity best practices. Those principles cover governance, risk management, security by design, threat detection, incident response, training and collaboration with third parties.
Hackers already have the wherewithal to not just disrupt but sabotage cars. In a video posted last year on YouTube by Wired magazine, two cybersecurity experts deployed software to remotely kill the engine and commandeer the sound system and air conditioning of a Jeep Cherokee driven on a St. Louis highway.
In response, Fiat Chrysler issued a recall for 1.4 million vehicles.
For years, Harman has worked to strengthen cars’ security defenses, company officials said. The company has developed a five-layer “5+1” cybersecurity framework to repel threats. The 5+1 system includes “over-the-air” updates, which are essentially automatic downloads that can bolster vehicles’ cybersecurity technology. Harman also sells products that protect cars’ internal and external computing networks.
“As you increase the connectivity levels and autonomous levels in vehicles, naturally you have more attack vectors,” Dickman said. “Our job is to understand it and put in the right countermeasures and prepare in advance to eliminate the threats, without affecting the connectivity levels.”
Harman has earned recognition in other quarters this month for its connected-car technology. AT&T chose the company’s Telematics Control Unit — a communications hub that works with cloud-computing technology — for its Mobile Broadband Accelerator program. The initiative aims to streamline AT&T’s certification process so customers have faster access to new products and services.
Connected car technology accounted for about $3.1 billion in net sales in the past fiscal year for Harman, equal to almost half of total sales. In the next year, the company expects connected-car sales to grow to about $3.3 billion.
©2016 the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
