Good morning

 Many people ask us about the meaning of CYBER SECURITY and today we will write a few lines on the subject with regard to FCA cars.

In general, the term CYBER SECURITY consists of 2 words :

the first Cyber derives from the word cybernetics i.e. Discipline dealing with the unitary study of processes concerning "communication and control in the animal and machine".

the second word SECURITY means security

whereby, in the IT sector, the term security denotes all the techniques and devices, both software and hardware, through which the protection of data and computer systems is implemented.

The main aspects of IT CYBERSECURITY concern the defence of information against attempts to intrude for the purpose of espionage or damage the entire system, and the safeguarding of its integrity, i.e. the protection of information against accidental or deliberate changes to its content.

Let us apply these general concepts to the automotive world, i.e. to our industry.

We will try to explain in simple terms what this is all about.

In 2018, the FCA group with the 500L MCA version, which is the first vehicle to feature the Secure Gate Way (SGW) system, installed protection against intentional external attacks for the first time, so as to consolidate the availability, reliability and security features of in-vehicle electronic components and functions.

The SGW control unit, using advanced encryption technologies, is not only able to act by defending some of the inputs to vehicle systems (e.g. OBD sockets), but also by shielding the accessible control systems that govern, for example, brakes, engine and door locking, guaranteeing the high requirements of confidentiality, integrity and authenticity demanded of the flow of information to, from and between vehicles.

In practice, an actual control unit is installed on the vehicle, which has the task of verifying access via the OBD diagnostics socket to the various systems and control units of the car.

The SGW control unit compares the user's authentication certificate with the FCA certificates installed in it via the Internet connection.

If the access is recognised then the vehicle access functions are authorised to open the diagnostic session.

To simplify matters, the SGW is the vehicle's gateway for signals from the OBD socket and the multimedia radio.

Happy reading and cordial greetings

Antonio