AVL and AIT Cooperate: Highly Automated Automotive Cyber Security Software for Threat Analysis and Risk Assessment

Wien/Graz, March, 2023: As the volume and complexity of software in vehicles, often referred to as the "data center on wheels," increases, so do the attack surfaces for cyberattacks in the automotive market. UNECE WP.29 R155 and the ISO/SAE 21434 standard require OEMs and their supply chain to implement and certify a Cyber Security Management System (CSMS). This includes proactive management of cyber threats and risks to protect vehicles and infrastructure throughout the development and lifecycle.

The partnership between AVL and AIT focuses on these challenges the automotive industry is facing: To systematically identify and assess the existing threats and risks due to cyber attacks across the development and lifecycle in order to initiate targeted measures. For this purpose, a new software solution called AVL ThreatGet™ will be integrated into AVL's Cyber Security Ecosystem.

"This partnership with AIT enables us to provide Threat Analysis & Risk Assessment (TARA) in a systematic and automated way across a wide range of E/E integration variants," says Harald Petschnik, Business Innovation Manager at AVL. "The combination of AVL ThreatGet with our Cyber Security Compliance Management and Testing Solutions makes it possible to think about the entire process, end-to-end. From the potential threats and hazards, their assessment to the requirements of security functions in the vehicle to the functional test. This ensures that effective measures are integrated properly. The consequences of hacking attacks on the privacy and health of road users can be drastically mitigated by this approach. In this context, a high level of automation and best integration into the customer’s IT landscape is important to us, as this process may be run several times for many variants and throughout the vehicle lifecycle."

AVL supports OEMs, Tier-n suppliers, engineering service providers, and certification bodies to increase efficiency in the management of certification processes, software lifecycle management and testing. The cyber security offering addresses safety and cybersecurity at vehicle level, down to the relevant components throughout the whole lifecycle. It is a suite of process management, testing and the market leading lifecycle tool for control unit software and parameter management used by various OEMs, Tiers and the AVL engineers.

"We are excited about the partnership with AVL because it enables an end-to-end solution for automotive challenges," says Christoph Schmittner, Scientist at AIT. "Networking and automation require trustworthy systems, one of the core requirements of new regulations and initiatives, such as UN R155 for vehicles as well as the Cyber Resilience Act in Europe. The cooperation with AVL covers security analysis, concept, design, implementation and testing. AVL ThreatGet automates the Threat Analysis & Risk Assessment (TARA) in the process. It enables repeatability and provides comprehensive knowledge of vulnerabilities. In cooperation with AVL Cyber Security Compliance Management and Testing Solutions, an end-to-end development methodology and automation of compliance processes is enabled."