Upstream Partners with chargeIQ to Protect Critical EV Charging Infrastructure Against Cyber Risks

Volker Fricke, Co-Founder, chargeIQ: “Upstream introduced the first of its kind EV charging detection and response (XDR) platform, which enables us to deliver peace-of-mind to our customers.”

Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany and Ann Arbor, MI (Oct. 17th, 2023) – Upstream Security, a leading provider of cloud-based cybersecurity detection and response platform for mobility and automotive, today announced its partnership with chargeIQ. chargeIQ’s charge point management system enables companies, commercial fleet owners and private users to effectively operate their charge points and charging stations by streamlining access management, billing and operations. ChargeIQ is set to deploy Upstream’s solution to monitor and detect threats against EVSE as well as the entire charging ecosystem, including charging points and stations (OCPP, OCPI, OICP, etc.), backend systems, and charging-related mobile apps.

The rapid proliferation of EV charging technologies and the massive government investments in charging infrastructure across the globe is attracting the attention of malicious actors, which is expected to drive a steep increase in EV charging cyber-based manipulations and operational disruption. Cybersecurity concerns in the EV charging ecosystem have also sparked a wave of new regulations and compliance requirements worldwide, such as the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), The UK’s Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, and NIST Cybersecurity Framework Profile for Electric Vehicle Extreme Fast Charging Infrastructure.

Based on Upstream’s 2023 Global Automotive Cybersecurity Report, which uncovers emerging automotive and smart mobility cybersecurity risks and how they impact the entire smart mobility ecosystem, for the first time in 2022 attacks against EV charging points and infrastructure accounted for 4% of total incidents.

Yoav Levy, Upstream Security CEO and co-founder: “We are thrilled to partner with chargeIQ and work closely together to safeguard mission-critical charging infrastructure and platforms. The ramp-up in EV adoption is driving the widespread buildout of charging points and stations globally. EV charging services and applications store sensitive data such as user account information and payment details, making them attractive targets for hackers. We’re also seeing hackers using ransomware to lock down charging stations, making them inaccessible until a ransom is paid. These hacking attempts damage the reputation of all involved – from the charging station operator, EV OEMs, that often bundle home charge points with the initial purchase of EVs, to the broader EV industry.”

Volker Fricke, co-founder and CTO of chargeIQ: “The EV charging ecosystem requires a holistic cybersecurity approach that expands beyond basic monitoring. In Upstream we found a strategic partner to help us safeguard our platform against malicious attacks that have the power to jeopardize charge points and stations, EVs and entire electric fleets. Upstream introduced the first of its kind holistic EV charging detection and response (XDR) platform and threat intelligence solutions, which enable us to deliver peace-of-mind to our customers.”

The First Purpose-Built Detection Platform for the EV Charging Ecosystem

Upstream platform is purpose-built to monitor and protect various mobility assets across the EV charging ecosystem, focusing on OCPP, OICP and OCPI, as well as other telematics and API-based data streams. With an agentless architecture, the Upstream platform requires no software or hardware footprint, ensuring flexibility and fast time-to-security. The platform effectively monitors all EV charging assets (including charging-related API transactions), creating a digital twin that reflects the individual state of each charging station, server, and companion application user. Based on the digital twin and advanced ML modules, the platform detects suspicious anomalies such as unauthorized attempts to inject malicious code to charging infrastructure, attempts to access private user data or to configure a high charging current to damage the charging infrastructure or even destabilize the electric grid (e.g. excessive ‘start-charging’ commands that might compromise electrical infrastructure).

Coupled with Upstream’s AutoThreat® PRO threat intelligence solution, which provides threat intelligence based on findings from the deep and dark web, EV charging stakeholders can implement a holistic and proactive approach to secure EV charging assets and ensure the integrity of charging infrastructure.

About chargeIQ

chargeIQ provides an end-to-end software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform and game-changing technology (from IoT to cloud) for user-centric management of charging infrastructure. Charging station manufacturers and operators of charging infrastructure greatly benefit from the chargeIQ platform in private and semi-public domain as it provides many comprehensive digital services for end-users. Besides chargeIQ services for access management, accounting, billing and payment, the user can soon use on a pay-per-use model digital services from 3rd parties and open-source community. The chargeIQ ecosystem partners and their services are industry experts in the domain of smart-charging, energy-management and smart-grid. Thanks to the chargeIQ service store, the user can select the best digital service they need to manage and operate their charging infrastructure effective and more efficient. The patent-pending IoT technology of chargeIQ is revolutionizing the industry as it is modular extensible by “apps” and the basis for data-driven digital services in the future.

About Upstream

Upstream provides a cloud-based data management platform purpose-built for connected vehicles, delivering unparalleled automotive cybersecurity detection and response (V-XDR) and data-driven applications. The Upstream Platform unlocks the value of vehicle data, empowering customers to build connected vehicle applications by transforming highly distributed vehicle data into centralized, structured, contextualized data lakes. Coupled with AutoThreat® Intelligence, the first automotive cybersecurity threat intelligence solution, Upstream provides industry-leading cyber threat protection and actionable insights, seamlessly integrated into the customer’s environment and vehicle security operations centers (vSOC). For more information, visit: www.upstream.auto.