DHS Picks HRL University of Michigan for Automotive Cybersecurity Research; Reginald Brothers Comments

HRL Laboratories and the University of Michigan have received contracts from the Department of Homeland Security respectively worth $2.5 million and $1.2 million to develop cybersecurity tools for government- and privately-owned vehicles.

The HRL team led by David Payton will develop a physical disturbance detection system in order to raise an early warning signal when an attack arises, DHS said Thursday.

DHS’ science and technology directorate will collaborate with the U.K. Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure, the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and Defense Research and Development Canada to implement the project.

Andre Weimerskirch will lead the University of Michigan team in its work to design a system to transmit software over-the-air updates to vehicles.

“We need to keep pace with the cyber threat landscape,” said Reginald Brothers, DHS undersecretary for science and technology.