OTA Cyber Attacks Targeted by BlackBerry and Airbiquity
Two automotive software giants have teamed up in a bid to battle the rising cyber-security risks from hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in vehicle over-the-air (OTA) updates.
BlackBerry and Airbiquity claim to have developed a solution to enable automakers to deliver OTA updates to vehicles and meet the industry’s highest security standard. By integrating Airbiquity’s OTAmatic Software Management Platform and the BlackBerry Certicom Code Signing Key Management Server, the two companies say they can give automakers access to the Uptane Security Framework. This should tackle the current risks of spoofing, unauthorized access, tampering, repudiation, man-in-the-middle, privilege escalation and distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks as vehicles grow increasingly software-defined.
Jim Alfred, vice-president, BlackBerry Certicom, said: “By harnessing the collective expertise of both companies, automotive OEMs can embrace the Uptane Security Framework with confidence, offering the utmost safety and security for connected vehicles.” Keefe Leung, vice-president of product management at Airbiquity, added: “BlackBerry Certicom is a recognized leader in applied cryptography and key management and our pre-integrated software gives automotive OEMs a best-in-class solution for reducing the development effort and expense of delivering safe, secure and timely OTA updates.”
— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_
