Is It Smart To Have A Smart Car?

With the advent of technology, smart cars have arrived and will continue to make significant moves out on the road. With such advancement, car companies need to remain prepared to disrupt any data breach or cybersecurity event. It is crucial to prevent drivers from further harm. General Motors, for instance, is taking steps to thwart cyber threats in an increasingly cloud-based world.

Hack Attack. Don’t Come Back

GM plans to bring researchers, some even professional computer hackers themselves, to Detriot, Michigan. They will be offered a pretty penny for each threat they uncover in any GM vehicle.

According to Security Info Watch, GM’s president said,

“We’ll show them the products, programs, and systems for which we plan to establish these bug bounties. Then we’ll put them in a comfortable environment, ply them with pizza and Red Bull or whatever they might need … and turn them loose,” Dan Ammann said at the Billington CyberSecurity Summit in Detroit.

Bug Bounty

GM’s program, Bug Bounty, will contain 10 researchers GM hand-picked. Furthermore, the company began its disclosure program just two years ago. Also, GM is the first automaker to embrace the work of hackers for its products and programming. The company currently employs a staff of about 450 people working on cybersecurity alone. The Bug Bounty program is set to start this summer and end before the summer comes to a close.

Ammann also added, “It is a top priority for GM that its vehicles are safe from any data breach or threats particularly as it aggressively pursues development and deployment of autonomous vehicles, which it plans to take to market next year … The work is not just happening inside the company,” said Ammann. (GM is) “taking advantage of third-party researchers, taking advantage of third-party expertise from multiple different places, working together across the industry to collaborate to make sure we have all the best minds working on this issue.”