Trustonic has announced a collaboration with systems-on-chips (SoCs) provider MediaTek to provide the automotive industry with highly secure telematics and in-car entertainment systems for connected vehicles.
This partnership ensures that security is foundational, in an environment that has seen massive increases in external connectivity and in the number of features delivered by systems connected to in-car networks.
Increasing car connectivity is bringing value and presenting challenges to the automotive industry. The ecosystem is, therefore, working to address a range of security and privacy challenges. For example:
- Device connectivity & data privacy – cars can now connect to multiple mobile devices, potentially exposing large amounts of personal sensitive data. There is, however, an opportunity for drivers and manufacturers to gather and monitor large volumes of useful data, such as location, speed, diagnostics, fuel consumption, tyre pressure or emissions.
- In-car services – cars are a growing part of the “app economy”, opening up opportunities to combine generalist applications, such as social networking, payment and premium content, with car-centric apps, like journey planning, tolls and parking.
- Automotive monitoring – other data, such as location, speed and driving characteristics, may be of use to authorities or insurance companies – but with obvious concerns over privacy.
Trustonic’s state-of-the-art TEE technology, already embedded in more than one billion devices, addresses these challenges by offering a hardware-secured operating system which is completely isolated from the device operating system. This makes it, and trusted applications residing in it, immune to all software threats resident on the device.
The Root of Trust also ensures that a trusted identity is preserved within the device, preventing fraudulent use or copying. Car manufacturers can therefore be assured that the MediaTek systems that they integrate into cars, and the applications and data stored on them, are protected.
“The benefits offered by connected cars are exciting, but security and privacy is paramount, as the ramifications of hacking could be serious,” commented George Kanuck, SVP of Global Sales and Marketing at Trustonic. “MediaTek recognises this and is pushing the boundaries of secure telematics and infotainment. Using our certified hardware, vehicles and their users can be protected from hacking and malware, keeping companies, passengers and the public safe.”
J.C. Hsu, corporate vice president and general manager of New Business Development at MediaTek, concluded: “The demands of connected and autonomous vehicles require a range of unique technologies. MediaTek is channelling its experience to power the future of driving, and we want to ensure that the solutions we offer to the automotive sector are absolutely secure.
The hardware-based device security that the TEE offers is the best way to achieve this. Initially, we will use Trustonic’s TEE to safeguard our telematics and in-car entertainment solutions, with the first shipments already underway and due to hit the consumer market in 2018.”
Visit Trustonic at stand W5.H46 Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017, June 28 – July 1, to learn more about this news and TEE hardware security.
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