General Motors hires first cyber security chief

GM wants to look at car technology 'on a critical systems level'

US firm General Motors has hired its first product cyber security chief in response to the increasing amount of technology built into cars that could be targeted by cyber attackers.

Jeffrey Masimilla, previously a General Motors engineering group manager who headed up the company's "infotainment" systems, was hired this month, following a review of the company's product development procedures.

GM told Reuters that it has established "one integrated organisation, Vehicle and Vehicle Services Cyber Security, to deal with cyber security for vehicles and vehicle-connected services".

According to Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development, the firm went to the US Navy, Boeing and to Virginia Tech to ask who they hired, how they hired them and what the person hired was charged to do.

"We have to look at [car technology] on a critical systems level. We see this as a competitive advantage," he said.

The car manufacturer's decision to appoint Masimilla underlines the importance car makers are placing on technology, with the likes of BMW, Renault and Toyota all embracing new forms of technology.

Technology companies including Nokia Oyj, Google, Salesforce and Atos are also looking at introducing and investing in smart car technology with tablet-like devices connected to the car, social IT services, real-time traffic information and automation and telematics all being trialled and introduced.

And with these new types of technologies comes new types of security issues - something that car manufacturers were made aware of as far back as 2011, when McAfee released a report claiming that modern cars' reliance on computer systems makes them vulnerable to a cyber attack, which could allow hackers to disable them remotely.

Just a month ago electric sports car maker Tesla put out a public call for up to 30 full-time new employees from the hacking community to work on breaking its "Internet of Things" based vehicles.