Cybersecurity and privacy threats in automobiles and its impact in insurance risk estimation

Automobiles are more and more software-based rather than mostly hardware-based. Ten years ago most cars already ran on more lines of software code than a fighter or a commercial airplane and the trend toward self-driving and electric vehicles is adding hundreds of millions more lines of code to cars. In addition, to meet the customer expectations in terms of comfort and utility, from some time now cars have been incorporating widely used communications technologies, as well as third-party devices and applications. As a result, cars’ attack surface is today bigger than ever and thus they are also potentially more vulnerable than ever. New regulation has been recently released to try to avoid and mitigate the effects of these cybersecurity vulnerabilities and threats in automobiles. Its mandatory adoption during the coming years represents an unprecedented challenge for the auto industry that is expected to boost a wave of research and innovation in this area. In addition, considering that at least in all developed countries it is mandatory to have an insurance associated to vehicles, insurance companies appear as a key player in this context since they need to somehow estimate the cybersecurity risks associated to vehicles to appropriately reflect it in the car insurance.

We offer:
Opportunity of working in a cutting-edge cybersecurity research project working in close collaboration with industry leaders and an attractive 36-months contract starting from July 2022 on. .
Opting for this alternative allows the student to complete the PhD thesis in less time than a Type A student although he or she cannot gain the same level of experience as when working closely in projects. In any case, since this type of students are integrated into consolidated research teams and the research lines are strategic, it is guaranteed that the thesis will respond to problems of interest to society and not be dissociated from the real needs in the IIT technological field. The student is hired each year for a maximum period of 3, with a gross annual amount of € 25,020.62 for the year 2022. In addition, the IIT covers 90% of the doctorate fee and the student can enjoy all the advantages offered to Comillas students.

Requirements:
We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student or postdoc researcher with background in Computer Science and Cybersecurity to work in a three-years research project in this topic. As part of the work to be carried out, the candidate will have to define a threat model common to most current and near-future cars, define a sound methodology and protocols for cars’ cybersecurity testing, define a dynamic risk assessment methodology tailored to automobiles to estimate insurance risks, develop and evaluate a prototype tool to implement such a methodology, and publish the obtained results in top-tier scientific journals and conferences.

Documents:
Curriculum vitae, academic record, cover letter, and (if possible) two recommendation letters.