A cybersecurity startup based in Hod Hasharon, Israel, Karamba Security , has raised $2.5 million in new series A funding to protects internet-connect cars and self-driving vehicles from hackers.
Fontinalis Partners , a venture firm that is focused on mobility and transportation-related technologies, led the investment joined by Karamba’s earlier seed backers YL Ventures and GlenRock.
Karamba has also released an extension to its “autonomous security” product suite.
As we’vepreviously reported, Karamba’s system is installed on the electronic control units, or small computers, within a vehicle that are externally connected.
This can be done as a retrofit by automakers or before a new car is assembled, by original equipment manufacturers.
For the unfamiliar, there is typically a single ECU that manages each different operation within a car, including critical things like braking, air bags or fuel injection, and less critical functions like navigation, air conditioning and entertainment.
Because the ECUs in a car operate on one network, which is self-contained within the vehicle, if hackers gain access to just one, they can get to any ECU.
Karamba’s software locks in the factory settings of each controller, and prevents foreign code and restricted behaviors from running there. Locking each ECU that way blocks a hacker’s ability to reach into a car’s CAN Bus, and mess with its critical functions.
The newest extension to Karamba’s cybersecurity product helps rapidly assess suspicious commands and to ensure that no valid operations are blocked as false positives, impacting the safe operation of a vehicle.
The company’s announcements come following the release of a Federal Automated Vehicles Policy from the U.S. Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month.
The policy calls on autonomous vehicle makers and tech providers to prioritize safety, and gather and share as much data as possible about the performance of their vehicles with each other and the government.