With a rapidly increasing amount of integrated technology, modern cars have become critically vulnerable to cyberattacks. A shortage of engineers, poor testing methodologies, and a lack of concrete software standards have made millions of cars vulnerable to attacks ranging from minor annoyances to the crippling of vital safety and operational controls. Underlying these vulnerabilities is the fundamental tension between security and usability; for instance, enabling software updates via WiFi or Bluetooth significantly decreases the barrier to improve a car’s software, while potentially making the car more vulnerable to remote attackers. This article claims that cybersecurity should be an integral element as early in the design process as possible, rather than being considered after an attack has been observed in the real world. Fuzz testing is one such suggested strategy which can be employed to this end. Fuzz testing involves sending software systems random signals with the goal to trigger abnormal behaviour, which can be further analyzed by security researchers.
