In-Depth
3 key tips for automotive manufacturers to support cybersecurity initiatives

PHOTO: FOTOLIA

Cybersecurity breaches continue to be a major point of concern in 2021. With more people working remotely, security breaches have been much more common and significant in impact. The JBS S.A. of Brazil hack from May 30th, highlighted another major security incident that halted production at meat processing and manufacturing facilities for a number of days, affecting global distribution partners and the food processing supply chain.

Greentec, an electronics recycling company involved in the disposing of electronics devices and machines, are seeing increased numbers of smart devices with personal data being disposed of improperly.

“We love what technology can do for us, so we’re not going to stop making devices and cars without chips and smart capabilities,” says Tony Perrotta, CEO of Greentec. “There just needs to be a way for consumers to know that they can and should do a factory reset when it comes to end-of-life resale or disposal.”

With the increased number of smart cars and equipment being listed on the resale market, Tony is calling on the industry to let consumers know they can perform a factory reset, or build in a mechanism that will take care of it when it is scrapped or resold.

Tony Perrotta provided 3 key tips for OEMs building electronics with smart capabilities:

1. There should be a mechanism built in by manufacturers that enables a factory reset, wiping all personal data before the car or device is resold or scrapped, or clear instructions to a consumer on how to perform one once the device reaches its end-of-life state
2. The personal data collection should be clear and made transparent; consumers should be made aware of what information is being collected, and how to opt-out or limit this data collection if they so choose
3. Lobbying and regulation for privacy initiatives should also come from the industry; this would help consumers control the information that’s collected. However, waiting on legislation to fix cybersecurity issues in smart devices would take a lot of time, so manufacturers should be creating these capabilities instead of just waiting on legislation to catch up.

There are noted improvements being made with regards to legislation to enable OEM’s to protect consumer privacy.

“In Europe, they have the recently enacted GDPR, empowering consumers to control what information is being collected,” says Tony. “Canadian provinces have begun to table legislation similar to this, and I know BC, Alberta and Quebec have some legislation in place already, but the national legislation, PIPEDA hasn’t seen a major update in over ten years. It’s finally being looked at through Canada’s new proposed CPPA (Consumer Privacy Protection Act), which would place a lot more control in the hands of consumers when it comes to data collection.”