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ANALYSIS
HOW AI IS REINVENTING CYBERSECURITY FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY
Alain Penel, VP of Middle East, CIS and Turkey at Fortinet, discusses how AI is reinventing cybersecurity in the automotive industry and redefining security for automotive organisations.
Autonomous and electric vehicle uptake is rising across the Middle East, driven by national agendas and a growing push for sustainable mobility. With this rapid growth however comes an urgent need to address cybersecurity at every stage of the automotive value chain.
AI is at the heart of this shift; transforming not only how vehicles operate, but also how cyberthreats are identified, mitigated and prevented. From predictive maintenance to driver behavior analytics, AI is streamlining processes and unlocking efficiencies. But it is also redefining the security perimeter for automotive organisations.
Forces influencing AI adoption in automotive
As the industry evolves, three forces are shaping the current landscape: stricter regulations, rapid AI integration and a fundamental change in communication infrastructure. Regulations such as the Cyber Resilience Act and NIS2 for example are introducing more granular compliance mandates, especially for sectors handling critical infrastructure.
Meanwhile, AI is accelerating business and individual learning processes. At the network level, the need for faster communication and bandwidth adaptability is giving rise to next-generation connectivity frameworks that can support AI-native systems.
This evolution in infrastructure and intelligence also promotes a significant shift in cybersecurity from reactive to preventive. AI is increasingly being used to analyse threat landscapes and internal vulnerabilities in real-time. This shift enables organisations to prepare for attacks before they happen, leveraging behavioral analytics and high-speed correlation to stay ahead of potential breaches. Hardware acceleration and software development, guided by AI, are now setting the pace for how cybersecurity evolves across the industry.
The impact of cybersecurity
Unsurprisingly, automotive enterprises are becoming high-value targets for cybercriminals. Three core factors contribute to this trend; the financial opportunity of holding connected services hostage, the complexity of digital supply chains, and the vast amount of sensitive data being generated.
With every vehicle connected to cloud-based services, a single breach can have wide-ranging brand, operational and financial repercussions. Moreover, the ecosystem of third-party vendors involved in producing autonomous and electric vehicles significantly expands the attack surface.
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