Most people do not understand how their car system works. With the advent of automatic cars, it seems a normal routine to just slip in your car and drive. Asked if they anything about their cars’ security systems, most drivers, including you will just be dumbfounded.

Not to worry though, as cybersecurity experts are working around the clock to ensure that your car’s data remains as safe as possible. At the recent CES (Consumer Electronics Show 2020) in Las Vegas, the organizers had a candid talk with some of the leading experts in this field.

Alissa Knight’s Perspective

According to renowned automotive and security expert Alissa Knight, vehicles are now simply computer networks on wheels.

Knight, whose panel calls her “a recognized hacker”, and who is also set to release a bool entitled Hacking Connected Cars: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures further said that car owners have limited choices on how their cars would be secured.

Alissa is set to release a book entitled Hacking Connected Cars: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

Car owners would need to rely a hundred percent on the car manufacturers, yet the manufacturers themselves are not as inept at developing such technologies, and only rely on security companies.

This situation, Knight notes is tricky for the car owners, since security companies can only provide security systems to a particular extent. They are limited to the extent to which they can secure these vehicles as they are not allowed by the automakers to go in the vehicles and enhance the car’s security system.

There is a solution to this problem though. Knight asserts that security companies can develop a device that sits in the network. This device will check and block any inappropriate traffic. She gives an example of an ECU-based firewall, that works like the conventional computer network, that limits data traffic and determines which device communicates to which device.

As it is now, consumers are entirely at the mercy of automakers. It is high time that consumers began asking the right questions regarding their security before buying these vehicles.

Enter GuardKnox

GuardKnox is an Israeli company started by a team of Israel Air Force cybersecurity research and development professionals in 2015.

In its presentation at CES, the company has plans to team up with automakers to provide anti-hacking mechanisms instead of working independently and selling their systems as independent products.

As of the moment, GuardKnox devices are yet to be installed in any vehicles, but they expect to make major strides in the year 2020. The company has already opened up a branch in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised $21 million, part of which is from Faurecia and Shanghai Automotive’s SAIC Capital.

It has also secured two major partnerships with Porsche and Daimler, where it is developing in-car communication to protect the car’s system from external attacks and a wireless interactive device using GuardKnox Bluetooth-to-CAN gateway to guard against hacking.

GuardKnox aims at creating a system that protects the vehicle’s system from all known and unknown cyber-attacks and that will protect the entire communication system of a vehicle. The system will be so good that if the infotainment is compromised, the rest of the car will still operate as usual.

GuardKnox state of the art security system resembles that of a fighter jet

GuardKnox’s big talk on systems security will most definitely bring definitive improvements to auto systems security. All eyes are now set on the company.