Auto Bytes - August 2022

The number of connected cars has increased lately, bringing with it a surge in the frequency of cyberattacks in the automotive sector. According to Grant Thornton Bharat’s Auto Bytes, areas of risk include compromised customer and vehicle data, product development, organisation software and control processes, service provider facing cyber attacks and information and data sharing risk. To mitigate through these, cybersecurity comes on top as one of the three-pillars to boost the auto sector, after multi-level stakeholder engagement and government support.

Commenting on the same, Saket Mehra, Partner and Auto Sector Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat said, “The first two months of 2022 reported more cyber crimes than the entire 2018, according to CERT-In data. The Indian carmaker needs to go the extra mile to gain customer’s trust and ensure vehicle safety. The years 2022 to 2024 would be ideal for Indian OEMs to lay the structural blueprint and map requirements for organisational cybersecurity. A major challenge in this regard is faced by EV start-ups, which are on the forefront of new technology adoption but lack sufficient resources and organisational structure to maintain and adhere to cybersecurity quality standards”