Electronics company Panasonic has announced it’s working with anti-virus specialist McAfee to create what they call a Vehicle Security Operation Centre to protect vehicles from cyber security attacks.

They say they will enable accurate detection and early response to attacks and help strengthen cybersecurity measures in the automotive industry.

Panasonic explains that it has already been operating SOCs for factories since 2016 to protect systems and networks that manage and control factory equipment and production processes against cyber-attacks – prior to SOC for vehicles.

They they have now developed a Automotive Intrusion Detection System that mounts on a vehicle, detects the occurrence of a cyber-attack and the type of attack, and transmits analysis data to the vehicle SOC and a Security Information and Event Management System that analyses and visualises a large amount of data received from the Automotive Intrusion Detection System in the vehicle SOC.

McAfee says it supports world-class SOCs and Managed Security Services (MSSs), and has the know-how cultivated by building and operationally supporting numerous SOCs. The Company will bring these together and start building vehicle SOCs to monitor cyber-attacks that may be conducted against vehicles around the world.

“With the innovative development of autonomous driving, the advancement of digitalisation, and the increasing number of connected cars, the risk of cyber-attacks against automobiles is increasing every year,” the companies say in a statement. “It has become urgent for the automotive industry to establish mechanisms to protect and monitor vehicles from cyber-attacks. The Vehicle Security Operation Center will enable the provision of monitoring services to monitor connected cars around the world and contribute to the development of a safe and secure mobility society.”

(Picture – Panasonic/McAfee