By Ling Cheng (Senior Product Marketing Manager)
A recent blog entry by BlackBerry sheds light on the company’s observations from the CES 2024 tech event, focusing on its collaboration with MIH, VicOne, and other ecosystem partners. The post details how MIH leverages BlackBerry IVY’s connected vehicle data platform and machine learning (ML) to monitor fleet performance, health status, and battery conditions. Additionally, by combining unique security insights with edge computing and ML techniques, VicOne assists OEMs or fleet operators in detecting malicious attacks, not just suspicious anomalies. This prevents false alarms that could trigger vehicle recalls, causing financial losses, or misinterpretations of driving behavior that could affect performance evaluations or insurance costs.
VicOne assumes a pivotal role in this synergy. With xCarbon and Smart Cockpit Protection acting as security sensors, VicOne enables localized vigilance over software-defined vehicles (SDVs) via BlackBerry IVY. This thwarts any malicious activity or breaches such as container escapes for system attacks or phishing attempts aimed at vehicle drivers. This streamlined approach significantly curtails the overhead costs associated with cloud computing and data transmission. Consequently, vehicle security operations center (VSOC) teams can allocate resources toward addressing real threats without being inundated with false alarms.
xCarbon, a VSOC sensor, combines with xNexus, VicOne’s next-gen VSOC platform, and security insights from IVY to seamlessly visualize attack paths spanning various layers and electronic control units (ECUs), thereby providing real-time, actionable insights. This contextualized and actionable intelligence equips VSOC teams to conduct thorough analyses with precision and efficiency.
Figure 1. Proactive protection with VicOne’s unique contextualized and actionable attack path intelligence
Beyond furnishing contextualized insights, VicOne delivers added value to both BlackBerry IVY and users. By integrating our xCarbon and Smart Cockpit Protection sensors, we enable transition from one-way to closed-loop communication. This transition signifies a seismic shift: From merely detecting attacks in the past, we now possess the prowess to consistently detect and respond, thereby unleashing the true value of this collaborative effort.
Figure 2. The difference between today’s VSOC platform and VicOne’s next-gen VSOC platform
Here are two additional advantages brought by closed-loop communication:
- Accelerating identification of root causes
Since cybersecurity incidents require an ongoing investigation process through correlation of various data, the absence of a VSOC sensor like xCarbon hinders the ability to explore more data for deeper investigation when issues arise. No matter how skilled a VSOC team is, defining the specific data to collect from day one is challenging. Thus, seamless coordination with xCarbon is crucial for the continuous and dynamic acquisition of more data and the identification of root causes. This dynamic closed-loop process relies on the tight integration between the VSOC platform and the edge sensor. - Responding via unique virtual patches
For a typical VSOC team member, detection of risks is akin to identification without a clear follow-up. The VSOC team member gets an alert but is left wondering, “So, what’s the next step for me?” To address this, the combination of xNexus and xCarbon offers a solution that provides virtual patches for effective postproduction mitigations. This enables users to prevent network vulnerability exploitation with attack signatures and detection of unusual system activities. By leveraging virtual patching, xCarbon enforces attack signatures and security rules, allowing OEMs to protect systems without making any changes. This capability helps OEMs avoid costly recalls when over-the-air (OTA) updates are not available.
Through innovative products and solutions and strategic initiatives and collaborations, VicOne empowers the automotive industry with edge intelligence to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver safer and more secure SDVs.
