How Connected Vehicles Expand Cyber Risk Surface

Modern vehicles are interconnected cyber-physical platforms with an attack surface spanning mobile applications, backend servers, over-the-air update pipelines and artificial intelligence-driven decision systems. Each layer introduces risks that conventional IT security frameworks were never built to handle, with vulnerabilities increasingly emerging across the broader ecosystem.

See Also: Taming the Rise of Shadow AI Agents

“Unlike a traditional IT system, like a mail server or your home network, the worst case scenario involves things like safety implications or real-world operational disruptions like closing down a road or being able to cause damage to the environment,” said Kamel Ghali, vice president at Car Hacking Village.

As vehicles become more software-defined and reliant on over-the-air updates, they risk inheriting traditional IT weaknesses. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence models, Ghali said, must be protected from external influence as they take on safety-critical decisions.

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at RSAC Conference 2026, Ghali also discussed:

• How the automotive supply chain is investing in cryptographically robust processors as a competitive differentiator;
• How automotive threat modeling is evolving beyond IT frameworks to include safety and operational and environmental impact;
• Why supply chain integrity is set to become the defining long-term cybersecurity challenge for the automotive ecosystem.

Ghali is an automotive cybersecurity expert with more than seven years of experience in ethical vehicle hacking, penetration testing, training and product security. He contributes globally to the cybersecurity community, leads outreach for the DEF CON Car Hacking Village and helps educate the community on vehicle security risks.