The Swiss company will integrate its products in the manufacturer’s connected car solutions
Swiss cybersecurity and internet of things (IoT) company WISeKey announced a contract with an unnamed European car manufacturer for development of connected car technology.
The agreement includes the integration of the WISeKey IoT and public key infrastructure (PKI) in the manufacturer’s connected car solutions, allowing the firm to authenticate legitimate car components and enabling owners to securely interact with the car’s smart features.
The Swiss company said all new cars on the market today include electronic technologies that could pose vulnerabilities to hacking or privacy intrusions if data security is not addressed. For example, smart cars without cybersecurity protection technology could allow hackers to gain remote access by exploiting vulnerabilities in their ecosystem of connected components and online services, WISeKey said.
“As cars continue to evolve, essentially becoming motorized computers, they are vulnerable to the very same threats and attacks as home computers, laptops and smartphones. Unless appropriate cybersecurity measures are implemented, hackers can remotely access the vehicle’s computer system, manipulate the brakes, engine, and transmission. Our technology is designed to help verify legitimate car systems, protect the data they create and avoid malicious hacking,” said WISeKey’s CEO Carlos Moreira.
The Swiss firm said that its solutions reduce potential security threats by providing highly-scalable PKI to create the electronic credentials that assert the identity of device or authorized users and enable encryption to protect data or software integrity. The WISeKey IoT solutions provide a benefit to the manufacturer in protecting the security of car components and their related online services, and for drivers in securing the massive of data produced by smart cars in daily use – which includes significant detail on the driver’s personal behavior and movements, similar to that produced by a smartphone.
WISeKey has presence in the IoT market with both its VaultIC chips and PKI across a variety of industries ranging from luxury products to telecommunications hardware to the automotive sector.
