The Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center(Auto-ISAC), the global knowledge, technology sharing forum for OEMs, Tier 1 companies and commercial vehicle companies has announced six new members have joined the body that includes Autoliv, Hitachi, Calsonic Kansei, Allison Transmission, Intel and Navistar.

Auto-ISAC a non-profit information sharing organisation which is owned and operated by automotive manufacturers and suppliers. The organisation was founded by a global group of automakers in August, 2015, which aims to be the central hub for coordination and communication around the automobile industry for sharing and tackling the challenge of cyber threats and vulnerabilities for the connected vehicle technology.

Auto-ISAC states the inclusion of the new companies exemplifies its continued efforts to promote collaboration between Tier 1 suppliers and automobile manufacturers around vehicle cybersecurity.

"Allison Transmission, Autoliv, Calsonic Kansei, Hitachi, Intel and Navistar all play critical roles in the design and engineering of secure connected vehicles, and we look forward to working with them," said Jeff Massimilla of General Motors, who serves as the Auto-ISAC's Chairman. "The addition of these six companies will help the Auto-ISAC continue to drive the industry's proactive efforts to incorporate strong security measures into every phase of the vehicle lifecycle."

Jeff Stewart of AT&T and chairman of the organisation's Affiliate Advisory Board which represents non‑OEM members said, "We all play a key role in the cybersecurity of connected vehicles. Sharing and analysing cyber risk information benefits everyone and the Auto-ISAC provides a secure platform for all of us to do just that."

The organisation operates as a central hub to share and analyse intelligence about emerging cybersecurity risks, it claims its secure intelligence sharing portal allows members to anonymously submit and receive information that helps them more effectively for responding to cyber threats.

A key-initiative by Auto-ISAC is the publishing of the 'Automotive Cybersecurity Best Practices Executive Summary' which provides informational guides that cover organizational and technical aspects of vehicle cybersecurity, with two of the guides publicly available - incident response and collaboration and engagement with appropriate third parties.

The other six guides available to members include - governance, risk management, security by design, threat detection and protection, and training and awareness.

In H2 of 2017, Auto-ISAC held its first Summit which saw participation from companies, government, non-profits and academia. The theme of the summit was ‘Start Your Engines’ symbolised the beginning of the industry build-up of a race against cyber threats. The program focused on building key relationships to tackle the automotive cyber challenge together.

This 2018 Summit is scheduled on September 25-26 in Detroit, USA. 

In February 2017, OEM suppliers Bosch, Cooper Standard, Honeywell, Hyundai Mobis, Lear Corp., LG Electronics, and NXP Semiconductors had joined the global network. Auto-ISAC claims that its members have a global representation in USA, Europe and Asia, along with its members representing more than 99 percent of light-duty vehicles on the road in North America.