Legendary hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek talk cybersecurity and autonomous vehicles at TC Sessions: Mobility 2022

Image Credits: Cruise / Cruise

Security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek shook the automotive industry in 2015 by remotely hacking a Jeep Cherokee driven by Wired reporter, and willing participant, Andy Greenberg. The notorious hack caused Fiat Chrysler, Jeep’s parent company, to recall 1.4 million vehicles and pay $105 million in fines to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

The warning might have been a wake-up call to the industry, but it didn’t slow the rise of the connected car. 

Today, the “connected car” is commonplace and delivers a long list of services to the driver and passengers, from internet connectivity and vehicle monitoring to safety warnings and the ability to buy goods and services while on the go. And it has crept beyond the passenger vehicle into the emerging autonomous vehicle industry, too. 

Perhaps it’s not surprising then that automotive cyberattacks have grown in frequency — up more than 225% in 2021, compared to 2018. It’s a trend that has caused a boon in the automotive cybersecurity market, which is predicted to reach $5.3 billion in 2026

This is why we’re thrilled to announce that Miller and Valasek — undisputed leaders in the industry who both hold top security roles at GM’s self-driving vehicle subsidiary Cruise — will join us onstage at TC Sessions: Mobility 2022 to discuss the dynamic and rapidly changing realm of automotive cybersecurity. The two-day event is scheduled for May 18 and May 19 in San Mateo, California, and will feature the best and brightest minds building and investing in the future of transportation. 

A distinguished security engineer, Miller — whom Foreign Policy called “one of the most technically proficient hackers on Earth” — designs and implements cybersecurity features for the company’s autonomous vehicles. 

Prior to joining Cruise, Miller served as a computer hacker at the National Security Agency, and he consulted and worked for the computer security teams at Twitter, Uber ATG and Didi Chuxing.

As the director of security engineering at Cruise, Valasek oversees vehicle, infrastructure and application security. He also has extensive experience in reverse engineering and exploitation research. Prior to joining Cruise, Valasek served as security lead at Uber and earlier as the director of vehicle security research at IOActive.

Don’t miss a wide-ranging conversation about the road that led Miller and Valasek from that Jeep Cherokee to Cruise, what needs to happen before the public trusts driverless vehicles, the type of threats they’re seeing, industry trends and what they’ve learned since 2015.

TC Sessions: Mobility 2022 breaks through the hype and goes beyond the headlines to discover how merging technology and transportation will affect a broad swath of industries, cities and the people who work and live in them. Register today before prices increase April 1!

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