Reflections on Cybersecurity and Trust in the Age of Connected Vehicles

I still remember 2016 vividly. I was leading the design of the infotainment system for the 2017 Subaru Impreza. Around that time, the now-famous Jeep hack made headlines around the world. Two researchers remotely took control of a Jeep on a highway, turning what had once been a movie-plot scenario into a very real moment that shook the automotive industry.

I remember visiting some of the same suppliers that supported those Jeep systems. Many of them believed something like that could never happen. They were confident that automotive systems were too isolated and too complex to be vulnerable. But once the news broke, it was impossible to ignore. I watched how quickly consumer trust began to slip, even for a brand as strong as Jeep. That incident changed everything. It changed how automakers thought about safety, and it changed how I thought about the systems we build.

For a long time, cybersecurity felt like a distant concern. Something reserved for banks, defense companies, or movie plotlines. Today, it is a core part of automotive development. When I later led product development for a luxury car company in Southern California, the importance of cybersecurity became personal. Many of our customers were public figures, entertainers, and industry leaders. Their data had real value. Every GPS coordinate, voice command, and system log represented a piece of their privacy. Protecting that information became a priority, because their trust was on the line.

Now, with the rapid growth of technologies like voice assistants, connected apps, and AI-driven systems, vehicles are more open and intelligent than ever before. This creates amazing new experiences for drivers, but it also introduces new ways for threats to appear. Cybersecurity is no longer just about protecting the car. It is about protecting the relationship between the driver and the brand.

That is why our collaboration with VicOne is so meaningful to us. VicOne has built a reputation as one of the most forward-thinking cybersecurity innovators in the automotive industry. Their products, such as xGuardian, xCarbon, and xNexus, are designed to identify, isolate, and respond to threats before they can affect a driver or a fleet.

It is often said that cybersecurity is a cat-and-mouse game. Every time systems evolve, attackers evolve too. What gives us peace of mind is knowing that with VicOne’s support, we are always one step ahead. Their expertise in vehicle-level protection and cloud-based monitoring complements our mission to make DragonFire OS not only powerful and connected, but also secure at its core.

For us at Ottawa Infotainment, trust is everything. We work with automakers who serve millions of drivers, and our responsibility is to ensure those drivers can feel safe in every digital interaction inside (and outside) the vehicle. Cybersecurity is not a feature we add. It is a principle we build around. With partners like VicOne, we are shaping a future where technology and trust go hand in hand.