An Israeli Tech Company Is Trying To Protect Our Cars From Being Hacked

Israeli automotive security company Karamba Security has announced the launch of Autonomous Security, a major edition to the company’s current Carwall electronic control unit (ECU) auto security platform. Karamba’s Autonomous Security will be aimed at helping auto technology companies meet the autonomous vehicle safety goals laid out by the Department of Transportation.

Navigant Research estimates that there will be more than 245 million level 2-connected autonomous vehicles on global roads by the mid-2020s. Karamba is focused on autonomous vehicle cybersecurity.

Blocking malicious commands is a critical part of any autonomous vehicle’s security, but incorrectly identifying legitimate commands as malicious can also be dangerous. According to analyst Sam Abuelsamid, roughly 2.0 percent of the commands blocked by today’s network-based approach to auto security are actually false positives.

Karamba claims its ECU technology eliminates these false positives.

“Any security approach that’s vulnerable to false positives or delayed decision-making isn’t providing sufficient security,” Karamba CEO Ami Dotan explains. “ECUs have to be able to protect themselves to prevent intrusions.”

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Karamba’s technology has certainly captured the attention of investors. In addition to the launch of Autonomous Security, Karamba also announced on Thursday that it has completed a new $2.5 million fundraising round led by Detroit’s Fontinalis Partners. Fontinalis joins existing Karamba investors YL Ventures and GlenRock.

“We were impressed to see how successful Karamba Security has been in engaging and creating demand for its products from Tier-1 system providers and vehicle manufacturers,” Fontinalis founder and partner Chris Thomas said of the investment.

Fontinalis invests solely in technology companies developing next generation mobility solutions.