The Cybersecurity Risk of Electric Vehicles

The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is truly here—and it’s accelerating. Despite the bumps brought by COVID-19 to the automotive industry, analysts predict that the demand for electric vehicles will continue to grow in 2021. By 2023, 125 million electric cars will be on the road worldwide. 

This increased demand is largely driven by the implementation of aggressive climate goals across the globe and the gradual phasing out of internal combustion engines (ICE). Furthermore, the demand for EV is expected to jump from 10% to 58% by 2040. 

In the United States alone, 327,000 plug-in vehicles were sold in 2019 as the country started working on policy changes to reduce carbon emissions from its transportation industry. With this, new electric vehicle models, improved batteries, more readily available charging infrastructure, new markets, and price parity with traditional gas-powered vehicles will further put the electric vehicles’ growth on full throttle^{1 2}.

However, not everything is smooth-cruising for the EV space. As much as the EV industry is helping slow down the environmental damages of the automotive industry as a whole, there’s also the rise of cybersecurity risks. According to experts, companies must address security risks before extensively rolling out their EVs.

While it is certainly possible to charge electric vehicles at home, electric vehicles plugged into a grid for charging are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks on electric vehicles can potentially put a driver’s life at risk by turning off headlights, disabling brakes, or taking oversteering. Cybercriminals are capable of doing this by simply jamming the vehicle control systems.

Furthermore, highly-skilled attackers can decrease the capacity of an electric vehicles’ battery capacity by 50% using sophisticated methods that average human drivers will hardly be able to detect³. Privacy is also a concern, as it’s been reported in 2019 that 22.9% of all cybersecurity incidents were related to privacy. The average loss due to unauthorized contact or disclosure is $1.52 million, while the cost of unauthorized data collection averages $1.61 million⁴.

Cyber Security issues that affect electric vehicles

While it’s true that electric cars are the future, the world has to be prepared because cyber threats are a perpetual risk:

• Commercial charging stations 

Through commercial charging stations, hackers can easily copy ID badges and use them for different transactions. They do this by rewiring charging requests and disabling charging points. 

• Mobile apps

Mobile apps are also a target for cybercriminals, because they can access electric vehicles through mobile phones. WiFi networks are also susceptible to hacking. Once hackers are in, they can disable a vehicle’s alarm and gain control over other systems.

• Command and control server

Through the command and control servers, hackers can attack an entire fleet of vehicles. They can do all kinds of sabotage to a company’s fleet, including annoying consumers to pay their bills and repetitively honking horns. The worst that could happen is that hackers can go as far as putting drivers’ safety at risk^{5 6}.

The Solution is Us

As electric vehicles become more commercially available, we at TaskUs understand that innovative solutions are needed to address the demands ahead and ensure our clients’ success. While creating a relationship built on trust is an important goal for Us, accomplishing our client’s business objective is still paramount. These are some of the ways we can protect our clients’ business and safeguard their successes:

• Yubikey two-factor authentication. It makes use of a security verification process and an ID password that grants for rigid monitoring of any unjustified access. 
• Know-your-customer (KYC). This is a two-step verification that is also accessible within the client’s network. We adopt this process to authenticate every customer’s identity and expose potential fraudsters.

For TaskUs, our clients’ and their customers’ security is non-negotiable. Part of that priority involves making sure that we recruit and hone the best—our Ridiculously Awesome Teammates! We provide them with compelling learning experiences, vigorous training, holistic wellness, and a positive company culture that enables them to always give their very best. Our awesome people, technology, and accreditation are what our clients can always depend on to protect their businesses across the globe. 

Learn more about how TaskUs adds value to support the transportation industry and how we leverage AI and machine learning to bring ridiculously good outsourcing for our clients.