- Autonomous vehicles face increasing cybersecurity threats.
- Upstream Security offers specialized cybersecurity solutions for the automotive industry.
- Notable products, experienced founders, partnerships, and investments position Upstream as a leading provider in automotive cybersecurity.
What is the worst dream of a car lover? Remember the scene from Fast & Furious-8 where all the cars just come out of the garage or houses or parking to attack, the minister? And all controlled by sitting in just one place. Well, that can happen in real life not just in your dreams. That's scary though.
Today’s technology has developed auto-generated cars. For people who cannot or do not wish to drive, we have developed automated vehicles. Self-driving vehicles may provide a trustworthy and secure means of transportation.
Elderly or disabled individuals could enter a self-driving car without endangering other road users. Autonomous vehicles may also be useful in urban areas with irregular public transportation.
Autonomous vehicles can travel to locations with a lack of infrastructure. The use of sophisticated systems and algorithms by computers will effectively eliminate unnecessary human error.
Major accident reasons like drunk or inattentive driving won't be an issue with self-driving automobiles. Autonomous vehicles are predicted to reduce collisions by up to 90%.
Radar, laser light/LIDAR, GPS, odometry, drive-by-wire control systems, and computer vision are just a few of the cutting-edge sensors and innovative algorithms used by autonomous vehicles to detect and react to their surroundings.
In other words, a self-driving automobile is fundamentally a combination of networked parts, some of which are present inside the car and others that are present outside of it.
These intricate systems provide self-driving cars with the information and processing capacity they need to make autonomous judgments, but they also open up attack points for cybercriminals looking to take advantage of this developing technology.
The Threat
Autonomous automobiles depend on connectivity and a full sensor suite driven by high-end chips that are meant to ensure environmental/situational awareness in order to perform to their potential.
There are weaknesses associated with its intricacy. Security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek showed how a Jeep Cherokee may be remotely controlled via its internet connection in a landmark 2017 study.
Remotely immobilizing the car on a highway was accomplished by the team. In a series of tests, they demonstrated that a hacker could turn the steering wheel, activate the brakes, or, in some cases, accelerate a targeted vehicle. This included well-known makes like the Toyota Prius, Ford Escape, and Jeep Cherokee.
The same year, researchers were able to access user data and remotely start cars using Hyundai's Bluelink system after testing it out. More recently, hackers working for consumer advocacy were able to disable the traction control systems in both Ford and VW, exposing system flaws.
Once they have access to your car, hackers can damage it by adjusting factors like acceleration or speed. This implies that the speed limit may change while you're driving or that you may be moving quickly without even pressing the accelerator.
In other words, the scope of these hacks was constrained to a small number of on-board computer-controlled functions in typical autos. Because all control systems are managed by computers, it would theoretically be easy to hack every component of an autonomous car's functionality.
Cybersecurity for cars is crucial since it protects the user's information from being stolen. Your personal details, social security number, address, and credit card information may be included in this data. Security company Upstream stated in its most recent annual report on automotive cybercrime that attacks had surged by 380% over the preceding 12 months.
The Solution -
The automobile sector is undergoing a significant shift as it develops new revenue streams and commercial prospects using connected vehicle data. However, connectivity and mobility applications also bring new attack surfaces and a variety of cyber risks.
In order to offer safe and secure smart Mobility Services and assist Automotive players in mitigating cyber threats and adhering to cyber security rules, Upstream ensures trust in the connected vehicle ecosystem. It has already ensured trust from companies like BMW and Volvo. No need to doubt, yeah?
So what is Upstream?
Upstream is a cloud-based agentless detection and response platform with the capacity to analyze various data streams in close to real time. It was developed specifically for the connected car ecosystem to mitigate attacks on EV charging stations and vehicles' mobility APIs.
On top of its cyber security platform, the platform creates distinctive digital twins that enable Advanced ML-based models to detect known and unknown threats. In order to give efficient visibility investigation and mitigation going beyond cyber security, Upstream offers globally managed vehicle security operation centers that include an automotive threat intelligence solution.
Utilizing linked vehicle data to reduce warranty claims, increase vehicle quality, and offer advanced fleet applications like predictive maintenance and vehicle health monitoring, Upstream's platform enables the automotive industry to protect and empower the future of connected vehicles.
The Founders -
Two seasoned security experts, Yoav Levy and Yonatan Appel, formed Upstream Security. With over 17 years of experience in multinational high-tech firms and start-ups, Yoav is in charge of Upstream's strategic direction, culture, and business execution.
He has over a decade of experience working for market-leading vendors including Check Point, Juniper Networks, and Broadcom in management, marketing, and business development of IT and security solutions.
Having over 20 years of expertise in technology development and product management at prominent international corporations, Yonatan is heading Upstream's cybersecurity research.
He offers extensive experience in developing enterprise-grade cloud-based analytics solutions at Microsoft as well as strong experience in cybersecurity innovation at globally renowned application security firms like Check Point and Imperva.
They recognized that the automotive business is facing a significant disruption and that this disruption will need drastically different security solutions in order to realize its full potential.
They therefore developed automotive cybersecurity solutions specifically designed to address the issues faced by the automotive industry. Up until now, locating and identifying cyber attacks aimed against linked vehicles and OEM automakers' smart mobility services has proven difficult.
A new breed of security solutions is necessary to protect the connected car ecosystem's vehicles, infrastructure, and services from hacking, fraud, and misuse. These solutions must be specifically tailored to the challenges faced by the automotive sector and each connected car's unique set of characteristics.
Products and Statistics -
In order to protect connected and autonomous vehicles, on the road today and in 20 years, from remote cyberattacks launched over the open internet or private mobile APN as well as from fleet-wide attacks aimed at several vehicles at once.
Upstream assists corporations in minimizing connectivity risks and ensuring the safety and security of smart mobility solutions. Upstream's AutoThreat Intelligence is the automobile industry's leading cyber threat intelligence and risk assessment service.
It was created with the specific intent of gathering, analyzing, and utilizing automotive danger intelligence from deep and dark web sources. AutoThreat® is the only solution addressing the hazards connected vehicles face on the road every day, while other solutions concentrate on general IT demands.
OEMs, Tier-1, and 2 suppliers can now manage risks and vulnerabilities, adhere to standards and regulations, encourage [automotive] cybersecurity awareness, and take action to avoid and mitigate attacks thanks to Upstream's automotive experience.
Upstream also has many technical patents registered by them like on, System and method for contextually monitoring vehicle state, Machine learning techniques for classifying driver behavior, and Centralized detection techniques for cyber-attacks directed at connected vehicles.
The current estimated yearly income for Upstream Security is $31.1M.The expected per-employee income of Upstream Security is $230,671. The overall investment for Upstream Security is $105M. Over the course of 6 rounds, Upstream Security has raised $139M in total investment.
Its most recent investment round, a $62M Series C round, was completed on August 24, 2021. Elite companies like, BMW i Ventures, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Delek US, NationWide Ventures, Glilot Capital Partners, La Maison Partners, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, 57 Stars' NextGen Mobility Fund, I.D.I. Insurance are their investors.
They have branches in Europe, Japan, the United States, and Germany. Now they have over 20 million connected vehicles for security. They also have more than 30 partners.
Upstream Security developed the first cyber security solution for Smart Mobility. Upstream Security is the first and only agent-free, cloud-based solution for connected car security. As a result, it is the only one on the market that can secure linked cars that are already in use (over 1M vehicles).
Well to not give control to a hacker of your newly automated car, I would strongly suggest Upstream's products because they establish real end-to-end security spanning the entire service, which uses data from the complete smart mobility ecosystem (connected vehicles, mobile applications, and cloud solutions) as it will give every car, “Sheer Driving Pleasure, For life.”
Edited by Shruti Thapa
