Pointer by Powerfleet, a vehicle tracking and recovery company, and Enigmatos, a leading provider of automotive cyber security solutions, announced on Sunday that they are joining together to advance the field of vehicle protection.
The companies will soon present an integrated and unified solution that will enable commercial fleets, government agencies, car importers, vehicle manufacturers and owners to access real-time detection of hackers’ attempts to take control or sabotage critical vehicle systems. In case of a cyberattack, a real-time alert will be sent to the fleet manager and/or the vehicle owner, followed up by Pointers’ Security Operation Center.
The technology is embedded in Pointer’s in-vehicle CAN-bus products which enables real time monitoring of attacks or tampering attempts of the vehicle’s systems. The companies’ solution is aimed to protect existing and future vehicles, including electric and autonomous vehicles.
Vehicles manufactured today are “computer networks on wheels” with dozens of computers that manage the vehicle’s functions, over 100 million lines of code, applications and external connections which include Bluetooth, cellular, WiFi and more and are, as a result, vulnerable to cyberattacks.
“The transportation and logistics industry is one of the five most targeted industries by hackers. A study recently published by the Atlanta Institute of Technology stated that, it is enough to attack only 13 vehicles in a square kilometer to paralyze all traffic in Manhattan,” explained Neta Lampert, Enigmatos’ CEO.
“This fact is very troubling to many countries that are now investing enormous resources to be prepared for the risk. The cooperation with Pointer will enable real-time monitoring of attacks, thus protecting infrastructure and human life.”
Enigmatos President Maj-Gen (Ret.) Ami Shafran, who was one of the founders of the cyber division in the IDF and in his last position served as the commander of the military’s C4I directorate said that “the global automotive cyber security market is about to double by the end of this decade. From a market size of $4.9 billion in 2020 to $9.7 billion at the end of this decade.”
Among the companies that have implemented Enigmatos solution so far are the public transportation operator Dan, and Philip Morris. Enigmatos is also part of a consortium led by the Israeli Aerospace Industries, actively participating in establishing the Israeli National cyber center for intelligent transportation systems that will ensure the cyber resilience of vehicle technologies.