What threat does Quantum Computing pose to Connected and Automated Vehicles?

ID Quantique has contributed to the latest SAE EDGE™ Research Report, titled “Unsettled Topics Concerning the Impact of Quantum Technologies on Automotive Cybersecurity”, which considers a number of unresolved questions around the impact that quantum computing will have on the security of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) ecosystems.

 

As connected and automated vehicles are introduced to the market in the coming years, there will be an increased need to consider how these will be secured from cyber-attacks. Such vehicles require a range of data, such as location or system updates, to be communicated between a complex network of vehicle sensors, vehicle controllers, vehicle-based data servers, and cloud-based data servers. This data could make connected and automated vehicles the target of cyber-attacks, with potentially devastating results.

In the quantum computing era, the cryptographic keys which are currently used to protect data and systems from cyber-attacks will be vulnerable to hacking. While V2X systems software and backend hardware can be updated frequently, it is likely that the vehicle hardware will be ‘on the road’ for many years and the security systems could become outdated. To defend the V2X ecosystem from cyber-attacks in the quantum era, embedded security systems in V2X vehicles will need to be designed as quantum proof now.

This SAE EDGE™ Research Report considers the following three areas to be unsettled questions in the V2X ecosystem:

• How soon will quantum computing pose a threat to connected and automated vehicle technologies?
• What steps and measures are needed to make a V2X ecosystem “quantum-safe?”
• What standardization is needed to ensure that quantum technologies do not pose an unacceptable risk from an automotive cybersecurity perspective?

 

The full report is available to purchase now for $120 (US). Find out more here: https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/epr2020026/

 

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Quantum Technology’s impact on automotive V2X security

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