Thank you.
I'm the co-director of the SHIELD automotive cybersecurity centre of excellence. This centre was established in 2020, right at the onset of the pandemic. However, we've been researching these challenges associated with automotive security and, in general, Internet of things security since 2012 or so.
We created the centre to address three key areas that we saw were lacking. Especially back in 2012, or even in 2020, when we were talking with different ranges of people, they looked at us in amazement and wondered what we were talking about when we talked about the issues surrounding automotive security. A lot of the time, it's mistaken with safety features in vehicles. They are two different challenges and issues. They're interrelated, but not exactly the same.
SHIELD is working with the automotive industry. We have partners coming to us. We can offer solutions for their immediate needs and challenges, but how many of the offered solutions they employ remains with them.
At the centre, other than offering technological solutions for the problems that are facing the industry, we offer training and education with respect to the issues and challenges auto theft has created in Canada. One of the more challenging issues in terms of security is a lack of knowledgeable people and the ability to attract young minds into this field. We are actively trying to remove the barriers in the field and allow the younger generation to come into it, as well as trying to upskill the current workforce that is in the workplace in the automotive field to be able to understand the new ecosystem of the vehicle.
As much as possible, we try to talk with policy-makers, we attend and are members of different standards committees, and we transfer our knowledge of issues that we have experienced and learned about, which will hopefully be reflected in the advanced science, standards and policies.
Going back to the issue of the biggest challenge in the automotive industry, which is a lack of talent, we currently have a very serious void in our workforce. A lot of organizations working in the automotive industry do not have people with the necessary skills, which sometimes showcases itself in the products that are coming.
However, there are newer standards being developed, and carmakers are slowly adhering to them. In July 2024, they're going to start enforcing some of the world's harmonization standards. We are hoping that there will be more investment in the training and education of students and professionals.
Unfortunately, the day that automotive cybersecurity becomes an issue will come earlier than we predicted. Our prediction was that with the rise of AI, we would have more devastation and more problems, especially with fleets of vehicles. Because auto theft is a public issue, it has created this attention to the the details related to automotive cybersecurity.
We are hoping that by working with different organizations, different institutions and the private and public sectors, we can rise to some of the challenges in this field.
Thank you for having me today.