When speaking about cybersecurity for an enterprise-level data center, the biggest risks they face is loss of data, customer trust and perhaps even money. However, when we discuss cybersecurity for connected cars, lives could be at risk. Any security solution for connected vehicles needs to address the implication an attack can have on human lives. The solution would also need to mitigate any interference with the current safety functions of the vehicle.
Amid those realities, Karamba Security has developed Carwall -- an endpoint security solution for connected cars. Some venture capitalizes are betting heavily on the company. To wit, Karamba recently announced $12 million in Series B funding to expand customer support, sales, and R&D.
Karamba Security Carwall: What It Does
Karamba’s claims its Autonomous Security software can:
- Enable the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) to protect itself: The security policy is embedded within the ECU, so all detection and prevention decisions are made locally on the ECU.
- Provide always-on security: It will protect itself against hacks at all times, without an external connection.
- Zero false positives: Each ECU gets a customized security policy based on its own factory settings. All foreign code is blocked.
- OS and hardware agnostic: Runs on every ECU without requiring any changes or upgrades to its software or hardware.
- Negligible performance impact: Operates reliably on the ECU without interfering with any of its other functions or storage needs.
- No updates necessary: The software does not need to rely on reactive security updates to prevent attacks.
Autonomous In-Car Security: A Standard Option?
Due to the fact the software is ingrained in the car's ECU, the software is applied at the manufacturer. It also does not need to be monitored, as it prevents attacks in real time without an external connection. The company estimates that in 2025 partially autonomous cars and completely autonomous cars will account for more than 15% of all cars shipped that year. This number will jump to 70% of all cars shipped in 2025, nearly 72 million cars annually.
For consumers looking for protection on their vehicles, I believe security software such as this will eventually become a standard feature like automatic emergency brakes.
Karamba Security is founded by Ami Dotan, David Barzilai, Tal Ben-David and Assaf Harel who are a team of cybersecurity experts and seasoned entrepreneurs. They have offices in Michigan, the automotive heart of the United States and Israel. Karamba has been recognized with the 2017 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Automotive New Product Innovation.
