Automotive Cyber Security from Mitsubishi Electric

Gotta say, we’ve been wondering what Mitsubishi Motors has been up to recently. Working tightly with Renault and Nissan through the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the company has been pretty tight-lipped on a lot. Finally some interesting news is coming to America, and it comes from Mitsubishi Motors sibling company, Mitsubishi Electric. We got an interesting glimpse at a lot of the autonomous and “smart” car technology that Mitsubishi Electric is working during the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show . Like any good idea, it’s easy to poke some holes, but the company is already looking to plug them up with new security measures.

New Tech Review

For a quick look at the technology Mitsubishi Electric brought to the 2019 CES, a lot of it was centered around autonomous car features and artificial intelligence. Amongst facial recognition and virtual assistance for driver safety, two interesting features that stood out were systems that allowed vehicles to “talk” to one another. Not only could a group of vehicles could all listen to the same music by sharing it between cars, but passengers could also chat and share files with other vehicles.

When it comes to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, unless the connection is secure, than those files, conversations, and other sensitive data are prone to cyber attackers. In the worst case scenario, if anyone saw the movie _ Upgrade _ , a self-driving autonomous vehicle could potentially be hijacked by a hacker and taken to a disclosed location for…something bad. Kind of like thieves setting up loot marks in _ Pokémon Go _ to attract their victims. What is Mitsubishi Electric’s response to this? A multi-layered defense technology system.

Multi-Layered Defense Technology

It’s actually quite complex; protecting connected vehicles from cyber attacks by strengthening their head unit’s defense capabilities is attacking the problem at the source. Think of all the connections vehicles have today, forget about the tech presented at CES. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi hotspots, system upgrades, GPS mapping – could it all be out there for the taking? Mitsubishi Electric seeks to protect vehicles with these communication functions by installing a variety of robust security features, including an intrusion detection system.

Designed to work without high-load processing and a secure-boot technology, the system doesn’t hinder the vehicle’s own capabilities. If anything, the system can quickly verify software integrity during its own bootup process. Installing new technology that doesn’t interfere with vehicle functionality is one feature many consumers have come to expect.

Here’s how it all works. The new technology detects cyber attacks by monitoring the automotive head unit and whether or not this unit has full control over the vehicle. The former, the automotive head unit, is the vehicle’s main link to the internet. Keeping an eye on this is key to protecting the vehicle from cyber attacks. In addition, unlike computer security programs that run in the background continuously, this technology reduces computer processing load by only becoming active when malicious cyber activity is present. Furthermore, due to Fast Secure Boot technology , the system boots up 90-percent faster , allowing for quicker and more secure boots to verify the integrity of the vehicle’s software embedded in the automotive head unit .

Mitsubishi Electric’s new multi-layered defense technology increases security measures for connected vehicles by strengthening the security functions already in place. We wonder what other measures may be developed once autonomous cars become the norm. Let us know your thoughts on Miami Lakes Mitsubishi social media .

Photo Source/Copyright: mitsubishielectric.com

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