Vehicle Hacking is Soaring, Doubled in 2019
The number of documented incidents of the hacking of connected cars and trucks worldwide doubled last year, continuing an accelerating trend that has seen their number rise by more than 600 percent since 2016.
That’s the major finding revealed by Upstream Security, a cybersecurity firm based in Israel, in its latest annual report on trends in the “smart mobility” ecosystem.
Among the report’s most troubling findings:
- Unlike prior years, when most of the documented cases were conducted by researchers to determine connected vehicles’ vulnerabilities, last year the majority of the hacks – 57 percent – were conducted by criminals.
- The vast majority – 82 percent -- of the attacks were conducted remotely, both short- and long-range, which don’t require physical access to a vehicle and can be conducted from anywhere in the world.
- A third of the attacks were made via the vehicles’ keyless entry system.
The Mission of Together for Safer Roads
This not-for-profit organization was founded by private sector companies that are contributing data, knowledge, and expertise to initiatives that aim to keep the world’s roads safer.
Being Relevant, Staying Relevant
I attended the Geotab Connect conference in San Diego a couple weeks ago, where I met tons of great people and soaked up tons of great learning! Luckily, I also got some great on-camera interviews while I was there - including this one from Geotab’s Colin Sutherland, imploring fleet managers to be relevant by understanding your vehicles’ data.
Jerome Toliver from Predictive Coach was one of the interesting new people I met at Geotab Connect, and in this on-camera interview he explained how telematics data can be used to assign relevant driver training.
Also in this issue, SuperVision’s Trent Dressen writes about the power of Continuous License Monitoring. Did you know that 40 years of continuous license monitoring for a 1,000-driver fleet, on average, costs less for a company than just one fatal accident?
Enjoy the issue and drive safely!
Ted Roberts
President
Oh, the Places You Will Go!
It’s that time of year when we start thinking about some of the fleet conferences we want to put on our spring schedule.
First, NAFA I&E is the largest gathering of fleet professionals in the year, so mark your calendars for April 6-8 in Indianapolis. If you register prior to January 31st you will save a cool $200 off the registration.
If your business is in Canada, you will want to attend AFLA Canada Fleet Summit, February 12-13. In his video today, Bill Elliott says that registration has well exceeded AFLA’s expectations.
Last year, I attended Fleet World's The Great British Fleet Event in London, England and loved it. I can’t make it this year, but if you’re in the neighborhood on January 30th, it promises to be a great day.
I do plan to attend the 7th International Fleet Meeting in Geneva on March 4th. It’s an outstanding venue for networking with the international fleet community. Besides, it takes place at the Geneva International Motor Show, which is stunning!
Last week, our Ted Roberts was in San Diego for Geotab Connect 2020. We’re looking forward to hearing more from Ted about the meeting and the interviews he conducted with a number of industry leaders.
Drive Safety!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Telematics: Without Video, You’re Missing the Whole Story
With video telematics, it’s like you’re sitting in the cab of the vehicle with your driver. That means it’s easier to reduce insurance and claims costs, and also to proactively coach and train your drivers.
