As connected vehicles and connected devices continue to proliferate and grow more sophisticated, the need for strong cybersecurity to protect against emerging threats becomes ever clearer. Indeed, many Original Equipment Manufacturers [OEMs] are becoming increasingly aware of the danger that cyberattacks pose, with their number and severity rising every year.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, global cybercrime is set to grow by 15% per year over the next two years, reaching $9.5 trillion USD globally in 2024, and $10.5 trillion US in 2025. As such, the need for OEMs to act to protect their customers and their data – not to mention their own brand reputation – cannot be overstated.
The ever-growing threat of cyberattacks has prompted many manufacturers to adopt a more strategic approach to security, e.g. focusing on the vehicle as a whole rather than on individual domains that sit within it. Trustonic’s extended ecosystem of partners is enabling OEMs who work with us to take a platform approach to security, and empowering them to meet horizontal security requirements across all their devices.
This ecosystem includes chipset providers, who give manufacturers a varied choice over silicon without compromising security, and software partners who leverage our technology to secure diverse systems and processes. This includes everything from Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems [IDPSs] and databases to key injection and certificate management.
Furthermore, our integration partners also work to combine the benefits of Trusted Execution Environments [TEEs], and other technologies like Hardware Security Modules [HSMs], so that OEMs may implement them concurrently within their cybersecurity infrastructure. Our ecosystem extends beyond the automotive use case to also secure IoT and mobile devices.
Our partners leverage Kinibi to secure hardware sensors, such as fingerprint modules and cameras used in devices, and to provide secure sub-systems for broader IoT solutions. Thanks to the efforts of our partners within the Trustonic ecosystem, who help to promote the benefits of using TEEs, many OEMs now rely on our TEE, Kinibi, as part of their strategic approach to security.
This has resulted in Kinibi – a microkernel-based secure Operating System [OS] supporting Global Platform Application Programming Interfaces [APIs] and standards – being deployed into over 20 million vehicles around the world, as well as billions of mobile phones.
Why Kinibi for automotive?
Due to the extreme complexity and diversity of vehicle software architectures, adopting a single, standardised approach to security is a difficult feat for OEMs to achieve.
Kinibi, however, offers a unique proposition to them, being that it can run alongside other software architectures on the majority of existing automotive chipsets. This allows manufacturers to provide security without needing to undergo a wholesale redesign of their vehicles’ security architecture. Despite the uptake of TEEs, and the growing understanding of their importance, many OEMs remain unsure how to leverage the technology most effectively.
This is creating a disjointed approach to vehicle cybersecurity, and presenting significant gaps in the line of defence that cyberattackers are able to exploit. By working with our partner ecosystem to leverage Kinibi, however, OEMs can gain access to a highly mature product that represents the gold standard for in-vehicle cybersecurity.
Through the solution, these manufacturers have the tools they need to build a strong solution that’s capable of standing up to the ever-shifting threat of cyberattacks. If vehicle security is to take a leap forward for the entire industry though, it’s vital that cybersecurity is recognised as an integral part of vehicle design across the board.
As such, security should never be a tacked-on consideration, and should instead be treated as an intrinsic part of the process, not just during the manufacturing stage, but throughout the vehicle’s entire lifecycle also. Kinibi helps OEMs to lay the foundations for achieving this goal, and strengthens the defence against cyberattacks as a whole.
A strategic approach
The beauty of using TEEs to ensure security is baked in to vehicle design is that they stand as pre-integrated solutions within connected devices. This means that vehicles remain protected from the moment they roll off the production line, right through to the point that they are decommissioned. As such, drivers can rest assured that they and their data is protected by the best-in-class security, and that this forms an integral part of their vehicle’s design.
Whilst the TEE can be the basis for a strategic approach to security, some OEMs are not taking control of TEE selection, leading to a disjointed approach in different sub systems and limitations in the ability to reuse Trusted Applications [TAs] and implement common policy management procedures to ensure consistent behaviour. Selecting the wrong TEE can mean a limited set of services, or poor guarantees for support throughout the vehicle lifetime.
With Kinibi though, there is a broad set of Trustonic and ecosystem solutions available for every device, reducing the need for OEMs or Tier Ones to develop custom solutions, and reducing the risk inherent in custom development. This enables to OEMs to take a more strategic approach to security that’s needed to strengthen defences.
How Trustonic’s partner ecosystem can help
By working with Trustonic’s ecosystem of partners, OEMs can gain access to a cybersecurity solution that’s fully ready for implementation in their connected devices, thereby significantly reducing engineering costs and efforts to ensure that more funds and resources are available for building enhanced services.
In other words, Trustonic handles all the low-level plumbing on the behalf of its OEMs customers, ensuring that all aspects of the TEE work effectively together. This allows manufacturers to consider all the extras they can add to their device’s security architecture, and to different aspects of the vehicle also, so that they can deliver a securer future for the industry.
