By Ling Cheng (Senior Product Marketing Manager)
The automotive industry’s shift toward smarter, more connected vehicles has turned cybersecurity into a high-stakes battleground. According to our 2025 automotive cybersecurity report, estimated losses from cyberattacks from 2022 to 2024 reached tens of billions of dollars, driven by ransomware, data breaches, and operational disruptions.
Adding to an increasingly complex and volatile threat landscape are the rise of AI, the expansion of electric vehicle (EV) ecosystems, and the sustained activity across dark web marketplaces. For instance, zero-day vulnerabilities and specialized hacking tools targeting automotive systems — tools capable of enabling car theft, sabotage, or even remote vehicle control — are actively traded in dark web corners. These vulnerabilities and tools often escape public vulnerability databases like CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) or mainstream attention. Yet they’re real — and many automotive manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers might not even be aware of the risks they’re exposed to.
Why automotive threat intelligence matters
Governments and global authorities aren’t sitting idle. The UN Economic Commission for Europe’s UN Regulation No. 155 (UN R155) mandates a cybersecurity management system (CSMS) across a vehicle’s lifecycle, requiring continuous threat monitoring to keep pace with emerging risks. China’s GB 44495-2024 reinforces this direction, pushing for robust defenses against automotive cyberthreats. Meanwhile, ISO/SAE 21434 calls for integrating external threat intelligence into both design and operation to enhance risk assessment.
These requirements and recommendations aren’t just red tape. They’re a wake-up call: Automotive threat intelligence (TI) isn’t optional. It’s foundational to both compliance and vehicle safety.
Imagine an OEM’s vehicle fleet compromised by an unknown Bluetooth vulnerability, one that allows attackers to remotely control vehicle systems, putting drivers and passengers in danger. This flaw isn’t listed in public databases and goes unnoticed across the broader automotive industry. The company fails to respond in time — not out of negligence, but because its TI couldn’t flag the risk early enough.
This is where high-quality automotive TI proves its value. It delivers:
- Early warnings: Monitors dark web forums, hidden communities, and emerging attack techniques to raise the alarm before it’s too late.
- Actionable insights: Turns raw data into clear, contextualized guidance that supports proactive defense.
- Automotive focus: Zeroes in on vehicle-specific issues — such as CAN (controller area network) bus exploits or V2X (vehicle-to-everything) vulnerabilities — rather than generic cybersecurity noise.
Even the “Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles” document of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends using TI within the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework. Meanwhile, clause eight of ISO/SAE 21434 calls for continuous monitoring of cybersecurity activity, including attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and attack paths.
It’s not just about spotting threats — it’s about staying ahead of them.
How automotive TI powers the industry
OEMs, suppliers, and service providers are increasingly embedding automotive TI into their cybersecurity practices. Here’s how it supports key functions across the automotive ecosystem:
- Real-time monitoring and threat detection: Leverages intelligence sources to identify emerging attack patterns — such as those targeting connected vehicle networks — as they unfold.
- Incident detection and response: Pairs with vehicle data to detect anomalies and enable rapid response when an attack occurs.
- Risk assessment and design optimization: Applies external intelligence, including known automotive attack cases, to strengthen system architecture and reduce risk during development.
- Impact analysis: Assesses attack severity to prioritize high-risk vulnerabilities threatening core systems.
- Supply chain risk management: Shares insights, such as third-party software flaws, to help key entities across the ecosystem identify and address security gaps.
By integrating TI across these domains, automotive players not only meet compliance requirements, but they also gain the upper hand in defending against increasingly sophisticated threats. Platforms like Auto-ISAC provide added visibility into global trends, helping the industry stay steps ahead.
Automotive TI: driving action or just adding more work?
Despite its promise, many OEMs and suppliers in the automotive industry find that their TI solutions create more headaches than they solve. Common pain points include:
- Just a feed, no insight: Endless scrolling through intel feeds often leads to: “Now what?” Valuable context is buried under noise, leaving teams to manually piece together attack paths. Shouldn’t insight come built in?
- Secondhand data, no control: Dark web intelligence often comes secondhand, with unclear sources and no direct access. The analysis remains surface-level, lacking verification or update tracking — making threat response more difficult.
- Too much noise, no priority: “Thousands of sources” sounds impressive — until you’re drowning in irrelevant data. Without a focused risk profile, critical threats get lost in the clutter. Why sift through noise when you could act on what matters?
These frustrations raise a vital question: Is your TI fueling meaningful action, or just adding to your workload?
Automotive TI: only as strong as the partner behind it
The automotive industry is at a cybersecurity tipping point. With growing regulatory pressure and increasingly advanced threats, TI can’t just be another data source — it needs to be a strategic asset. The right TI should act as your shield: delivering actionable insights, clarifying your risk exposure, and adapting to your needs. It shouldn’t be a burden weighing you down.
Ask yourself:
- Does your TI turn data into clear, actionable steps, or just hand you a puzzle to solve?
- Is it laser-focused on the risks that matter most to your business, or leaving you lost in a sea of noise?
- Can it integrate seamlessly into your product security processes, speaking the language of automotive cybersecurity standards and regulations or automotive-specific TTPs?
- Is it backed by a trusted research team with real automotive expertise, or just an AI system scraping the surface?
- Does it cover the full spectrum of product security, from brand reputation to vehicle theft?
In this high-stakes environment, your choice of solution provider can either position you as a leader or leave you lagging behind. The right partner transforms automotive TI into your shield, not your burden.
With xAurient, VicOne delivers action-ready automotive TI to help you lead with confidence. Click here to learn more.
Watch our on-demand webinar, “Dark Web Exposed: Real Threats Facing Today’s Automotive Industry.”
VicOne’s Jay Yaneza (Cyber Security Architect) and Jonathan Jay Turla (Principal Security Researcher) explain how dark web activities are silently threatening automotive brands. From zero-day vulnerabilities to organized remote theft operations, gain insight into what’s happening behind the scenes – and what innovators are doing to protect their products, customers, and reputations.
