Apps blocked over EV shutdowns, focus turns on auto cybersecurity

New Delhi: The government is reviewing cyber security safeguards deployed by automakers after blocking at least three mobile apps that were being misused to disable certain electric vehicles.

The Centre has widened the search for identification of more such applications, a senior official said. "This is a serious concern....We are looking into safety protocols being put in place by automakers," the official told ET. "The issue is not limited to just electric vehicles but all vehicles that have intensive tech and internet interface including driver assist features."

Currently, vulnerabilities have been flagged in cheaper electric two- and three-wheelers.


"Government's cybersecurity agencies are closely examining these vulnerabilities," the official said, adding that no concerns around electric cars have come to light as yet.

The government will hold consultations with automakers on cybersecurity safeguards amid fears of hacking by miscreants. Automakers may be asked to present fresh assessments of the safety protocols, the official said.

Multiple stakeholder ministries are involved in the exercise, the person said.

Apps Blocked

Officials named BAT-BMS, SMART BMS, Lossigy and Epoch-i-ion apps among those blocked as they were being misused by remotely disabling EVs. These applications had to be taken down after inter-ministerial deliberations concluded that each exposed e2w and e3w, which has already been sold and cannot be individually fixed, they said.

"There are a couple of apps which came to our notice yesterday. They have been taken down from the app stores," Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan told journalists on Friday. He said the app stores (from where mobile apps are usually downloaded) should exercise due care on these issues.

Krishnan said his ministry will take it up with the app store operators, "to see that such damaging apps do not come up."

Most mobile phones in India now run on Google's Android or Apple's iOS. Both have their online marketplaces from where these mobile apps have been deleted after government diktat.