Automotive Security Testing 101: Requirements, Best Practices, Tips on Overcoming Challenges

A modern car is controlled by millions of lines of code instead of mechanical systems. Malicious actors look for flaws in this code to steal cars, obtain personal information, or even cause road accidents. With meticulous security testing, you can discover flaws before a vehicle is released and prevent possible attacks.

In this article, we explore emerging automotive software security requirements and common attack vectors. We also discuss major challenges and best practices for security testing.

Key types of automotive software

Modern cars are no longer standalone mechanical systems. They are connected with the outside world via numerous electronic control units (ECUs). Cars use complex software to ensure safe travel, enable autonomous driving, entertain passengers, perform car diagnostics, etc.

Automotive security risks

Ensuring proper security of automotive software should be a top priority for car manufacturers and logistics companies. Not paying enough attention to this matter may result in lots of negative consequences for vehicle manufacturers.

Requirements for securing automotive software

Designing automotive software with cybersecurity in mind decreases the probability of car hacking and associated risks. And one of the first steps towards ensuring proper security of your automotive software is getting it in line with industry and national requirements.

Automotive security testing goals

• Identify potential software vulnerabilities
• Test the protection of your solutions against relevant attack vectors
• Check automotive software for unexpected behavior
• Ensure correct integration of multiple software components

Key attack vectors in automotive

The average car contains more than a hundred ECUs that run some sort of software, and hackers can attack any of these. But cybercriminals are mostly interested in the parts of a vehicle that grant them access to valuable data or hand over full control of the entire vehicle.

Best practices to test automotive cybersecurity

Challenges of security testing in automotive

With unique testing conditions and practices come unique challenges your QA team may face. Part of these challenges are related to integral characteristics of the automotive industry that you need to take into account while planning security testing. But some can be mitigated or even avoided with the correct approach to testing.

Automotive software makes vehicles safer, more comfortable, and more manageable. Thorough automotive cybersecurity testing helps you detect vulnerabilities before hackers can.

In the automotive industry, software security testing has to be conducted by a QA team with deep expertise and understanding of the industry, as there are too many unique requirements, best practices, and challenges to take into account.

For more detailed overview of automotive security testing, check out the full article in our blog.