Preventing Car Hacking with Automotive Cyber Security

The modern car has more lines of code than a passenger jet. It can browse music, report the weather, pay for gas, find a parking spot, and even drive itself. But this increased interconnectivity to the wider world brings heightened data security problems. Automotive hacking threats are becoming increasingly common with the rise of in-vehicle networking (IVN) and cloud connectivity. As a leading supplier of automotive silicon, Infineon helping to put a stop to these threats.

Automotive Hacking: A Modern Danger

Today, millions of cars are connected to the cloud. This means their elements operate within a larger digital ecosystem, including entertainment, navigation, ultrasonics, RADAR, LIDAR, cameras, third-party apps, and data generated by automotive sensors.

But even though modern cars have significant vehicle cyber security reinforcements, they still have weak points. In 2025, a team of researchers hacked a 2020 Nissan Leaf, showing how its Bluetooth and infotainment system could be hijacked via cellular connection.

Vehicle hacking poses significant threats, and automotive manufacturers have a duty to ensure trust and reliability in their vehicles. Every source of data or data exchange must be secured against delays or interferences, whether that's vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-network, or vehicle-to-people.

MACsec Anti-Hacking Automotive Cyber Security

To bolster security and combat car hacking, Infineon engineers are incorporating numerous automotive cyber security solutions into the vehicle’s original E/E Architecture, many of which have proven applications across other industries.

Among the top anti-hacking solutions is Media Access Control Security (MACsec), which:

  • Authenticates or  encrypts data between sensors and destinations.
  • Fortifies in-vehicle networking by securing data exchanges on a point-to-point and hop-by-hop basis.
  • Prevents Layer 2 security threats such as intrusion, man-in-the-middle, and replay attacks.

MACsec is one solution for strengthening cyber security in vehicles and preventing automotive hacking through robust protocols, encryption, and authentication. But every layer in the data exchange must be protected, which requires complex security mechanisms, well-designed interfaces, and the use of corresponding firmware and software. Combined, these ensure greater accuracy and reliability of reporting and blocking cyber attacks. 

Layers/Zone

When Do Vehicles Need Extra Protection?

There are multiple common use cases that require robust, proactive protection at the silicon and software level to protect the vehicle, its drivers, and passengers. These include:

  • Software/Firmware Upgrades - When vehicle manufacturers update software or firmware (or allow third parties to do so), they must ensure that upgrades can only be completed under secure conditions and protocols. This can be achieved with a secure Boot, implemented within the silicon’s firmware.
  • Sensors and Hazard Data - When a vehicle’s sensor technology (such as RADAR, LIDAR, or cameras) scans surroundings for potential hazards, the data it generates must be secure and verifiably accurate.
  • Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication - When vehicles communicate with each other about their relative position, speed, and direction of travel, that data must also be secure and verifiably accurate, particularly with self-driving and autonomous vehicles.
  • Time-Sensitive Data - No driver can afford to wait even a second to know if the warnings or images they see on their screen are accurate and trustworthy. When vehicles receive time-sensitive data from external sources to update maps, infrastructure, traffic, and infotainment, that data must be secure and verifiably accurate. Manipulation of these warnings could cause dramatic consequences for the driver and manufacturer.

Why Should Manufacturers Care About Automotive Hacking?

As the Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center (AUTO-ISAC) states: “An attack on one is an attack on all.”

Given this shared vulnerability and mutual interest in preventing connected car hacking, OEMs, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 supply-chain providers must collaborate. Here’s why:

Rising Consumer Expectations: Drivers have come to expect vehicular safety features that previous generations would never have imagined possible (like blind-spot warnings, automatic vehicle spacing, and smart-deploying airbags). Consumer standards and expectations are rising, and automotive data security is now very much a public priority.

Driver Experience: Heightened vehicle cyber security means hacking connected cars is less of a worry for drivers. This increased trust, coupled with more robust IVN and infrastructure, leads to a better driver experience, reflecting positively on the manufacturer.

Enhanced Compliance: Better automotive cyber security brings strengthened compliance to automotive and Ethernet standards, such as ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434, and UNECE Regulation 155. These unified standards help protect the integrity of the entire road-based transportation system, especially as vehicles and hackers become more sophisticated.

Public Safety: Car hacking isn’t just a threat to data security. Hackers can remotely take control of a vehicle or disable its sensors and warning systems from afar, which could cause accidents and malfunctions.

 

How Infineon Prevents Automotive Hacking

Infineon is proud to be a partner in the collaborative ecosystem against car and vehicle hacking. Our product catalog covers generations of high-performance, ultra-secure MCUs, microchips, sensors, bridges, PHY, cameras, and other automotive components.

Our BRIGHTLANE™ automotive Ethernet PHY family leads the market, providing secure, robust solutions for thwarting car hacking and improving automotive cyber security.

In the race against hackers, the slow lane is not an option. Explore Infineon’s secure automotive Ethernet product portfolio today.