Japanese tech company Hitachi Astemo, Trend Micro, and its business unit VicOne have expanded their partnership to develop security solutions for connected cars. The companies target commercialization for the technology by 2025, as per the press release.
Since October 2021, Trend Micro and Hitachi Astemo’s division, which manufactures in-vehicle components for connected cars, have collaborated on the security solutions developed for these vehicles.
Partnership
The partnership will consolidate the xCarbon embedded security solution for vehicles from Trend Micro and VicOne with the Edge-SIEM security solution for cars from Hitachi Astemo.
By 2025, the companies will offer in-vehicle security solutions to detect and reduce cyber attacks on connected cars.
How would the solutions work?
xCarbon
Electronic control units (ECUs) that deal with data are secured against cyberattacks by xCarbon. It consists of internet-connected devices (TCU) placed in cars and information systems (IVI) with integrated high-performance operating software, such as navigation systems.
Essentially, xCarbon detects and prevents the following:
- Real-time vulnerability-exploiting attacks
- Command and control (C&C) communication servers that cyber attackers remotely monitor
- Malware communications
- Illegal file rewriting
Edge-SIEM
On the other hand, the primary communication control of the vehicle network is handled by Edge-SIEM. Each control ECU and information ECU are used to gather the following data by placing Edge-SIEM in the central gateway:
- record data like how the brake and gas pedals are used
- car navigation system manipulation
Notably, this approach enables the technology to observe how the complete vehicle system behaves. Edge-SIEM tracks suspicious driving behavior in the car, such as braking and accelerating. If there is a chance of a cyberattack, it will then quickly alert V-SOC, the automaker’s security monitoring center.
Incorporation
xCarbon now serves as a security sensor for Edge-SIEM and transmits security logs from information ECUs like TCU and IVI. In essence, xCarbon will perform the following functions by gathering data and notifying the car:
- Lessen the surveillance burden on the V-SOC
- Stop real-time cyber attacks
- Enables early response to cyber-attacks
Would these be effective?
A verification experiment was carried out in August 2022 using a pseudo-IVI equipped with xCarbon and Hitachi Astemo’s central gateway with Edge-SIEM. The test setting simulated an actual vehicle.
Remarkably, xCarbon was able to identify and send data to Edge-SIEM about cyber attacks that attempted to steal the vehicle. The cyber attacks attempted to access the vehicle network through an IVI vulnerability, use illegal commands, and so on.
Based on the result, it was established that the solution’s ability to block the transmission of unauthorized commands from the IVI effectively prevented the cyber attack.
As stated above, Hitachi Astemo, Trend Micro, and VicOne target 2025 to commercialize their car security solutions.
