Over a third of automotive c-suite executives believe jargon and confusing cybersecurity terms are the biggest barrier faced when defending against attacks. With privacy and driver safety now actively being compromised by cybercriminals, there are worries that the cyber risk is being “inadequately addressed” by sector
Although cybersecurity ranks as their top business concern, automotive industry leaders are not currently perceiving enough return on their cyber intelligence investments and struggling to prioritise action due to the confusing terminology being used to describe threats, according to Kaspersky research. Over one-third (35%) of auto bosses believe jargon and confusing cybersecurity terms are the biggest barrier they face trying to defend against increasing attacks on the connected car ecosystem.
With automotive leaders challenged with defending against sophisticated, adept, and opportunistic cybercriminals every day, access to understandable and actionable threat intelligence is a must-have tool to support all businesses on the hunt for the unknown. However, Kaspersky research reveals that the automotive c-suite is struggling to connect the real implications of their threat intelligence to specific business operations, with almost a third (29.5%) of respondents not seeing value from their cyber intelligence investments.
Clara Wood, Automotive Research Leader, comments, “Our findings suggest that, for automotive businesses to start seeing true value from their threat intelligence investments, they have to start viewing the challenge more holistically. Protecting business operations while tackling cybersecurity threats has radically changed from basic IT configurations, installing an antivirus, and following best practices, to a whole new level of complex coding, unknown threats, and continuous cyber-attacks. Good intelligence reports and timely warnings are critically important for automotive companies across the supply chain as cybercriminals increasingly turn their focus towards the automotive industry.”
Automotive cyber incidents are increasing year on year, with increased hacker activities a driving factor. Another clear trend is the growth of remote hacks, including both web-based and nearby wireless attacks. However, the challenge of defending against these attacks is being compounded by ongoing issues associated with interpreting and understanding cybersecurity jargon. As connectivity and software-driven processes have become ubiquitous across the industry, there is a clear and present danger that failure to address this issue will mean that privacy – and even consumer safety - is actively being compromised.
Wood continues, “For a problem that touches everyone, from top to bottom in any organisation, cyber literacy is a critical component if an increasingly interconnected automotive industry is to develop a culture of cybersecurity best practice, share knowledge, and, ultimately, institute actionable intelligence with clear and quantifiable return on investment. Simply put, failure to move on from tactics that rely on reactive security and risk management principles without truly understanding the risks will provide inadequate security protections, exposing organisations to unnecessary and significant cyber risk and the consequences of devastating intrusions across the entire network.”
