Attacking vehicles with ransomware: Watch the horizon
2022-01-0441
03/29/2022
- Event
- Content
- Ransomware use is rampant throughout most industries. With the number of successful ransomware attacks through the industrial economy, this feels like a tsunami of attacks. These attacks seemingly originate from anywhere with an internet connection. There are vast numbers of bad actors creating these attacks, all focused on your systems. With the large number of attacks, it is granted there have been many breaches. While there have been a large number of successful attacks, each attack’s objectives have varied. These have historically been to generate revenue in the form of fees for the decrypt key or a promise not to publish exfiltrated data. The landscape has become saturated with ransomware attacks on consumers and the enterprise. There has been extensive training for staff in an effort to mitigate these issues. The next potential targets are vehicles and ground systems. These, as targets, have not been evaluated via a full risk assessment to the recommended extent. While not widely exploited, this has the distinct potential to be a significant issue. With the criticality of these systems for the troops along with the DoD, the risk for nation-state attacks cannot be dismissed or ignored. The impact of a coordinated attack would be significant. As the vehicles increase their connectivity and level of autonomy, the risks continue to grow. The compromised ground vehicle systems may lead to the vehicles inoperable, the supply chain stopping to the soldiers in the field, and distribution systems (goods and soldiers) ceasing. The paper will analyze ransomware threats, creation, pivots from present attacks, and attack methodologies.
- Pages
- 10
- Citation
- Parker, C., "Attacking vehicles with ransomware: Watch the horizon," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0441, 2022, .