Kevin Tierney, GM Chief Cybersecurity Officer, has been delegated to join a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) panel, and will give recommendations to improve the United States’ cybersecurity.
According to a report from The Detroit News, Tierney is one of 13 new appointees to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency’s (CISA) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee (CSAC). Established in 2021, this panel serves to advise the agency on “policies, programs, planning, and training to enhance the nation’s cyber defense.”
More specifically, Tierney will be the only representative on the 34-member committee that works in the automotive industry. The other members work in fields such as finance, energy and education, as well as many other backgrounds.
Reflecting on his new role, Tierney said, “We are really becoming more of an infrastructure company very quickly, and we have a lot of dependencies as you might expect on software and systems. It’s a tremendous honor and I’m pretty humbled to be a part of that group and represent the automotive industry.”
He went on to discuss the importance of the automotive industry to infrastructure, and how if those systems are disrupted, the U.S.’ security could be at risk.
Tierney will serve on the committee for two years, and also expects to serve on a subcommittee focused on corporate governance and cybersecurity responsibility within the private sector. Jen Easterly, CISA director, asked Tierney to join the panels after a visit to several GM assembly plants.
As some background on Tierney himself, he has worked on GM cybersecurity since early 2013, and also serves as the vice chair of Auto-ISAC, which is an industry group that shares information on cyber threats between connected vehicles.
In a statement, General Motors noted that Tierney’s appointment will allow the Detroit-based automaker to “play a key role in shaping strategy for national EV and energy security infrastructure.”
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Comments
I can understand the theoretical importance of automotive cybersecurity in the near future with interconnected EVs with critical over-the-air updates; however, I am curious just how much experience GM already has with cybersecurity. It’s interesting that they are the only automotive company on the panel.
China already knows gms cybersecurity. We gave it to them, smart. With world war 3 coming China could probably make our cars paper weights!!
Good move. Cybersecurity for EV charging will gain importance exponentially.