LG Uplus Enhances Connected Car Cybersecurity with Quantum-Resistant Encryption

At the agreement ceremony held at LG Science Park in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, (from left) Cheon Jeong-hee, CEO of Cryptolab, Eun Seok-hyun, Head of LG Electronics VS Business Division, and Choi Taek-jin, Head of LG Uplus Enterprise Division, pledge cooperation. Photo by LG Uplus

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] LG Uplus announced on the 5th that it has signed a business agreement to advance research and development (R&D) of connected car cybersecurity technology using Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) in collaboration with cryptography technology specialist Cryptolab and LG Electronics VS Business Division.

As the electrification of vehicles accelerates, the importance of cybersecurity technology, especially security measures against hacking, is emerging. As vehicle electronic control units become personalized based on user personal information, cases of privacy invasion of passengers or exposure to cybersecurity threats are increasing. Additionally, the international automotive cybersecurity regulatory body UNECE WP29 is discussing measures to strengthen vehicle security in the connected car era, including systematic adoption of security technologies.

Among these, Post-Quantum Cryptography is gaining attention as a new cryptographic technology designed to replace existing public key cryptosystems vulnerable to attacks in quantum computing environments. PQC is a cryptosystem that is difficult to decrypt even with quantum computers possessing computational power far superior to supercomputers. It is mainly applied in software-centric industries such as telecommunications, data, and application service security, with global big tech companies like IBM, Google, and Amazon adopting PQC.

LG Electronics plans to apply PQC technology to provide safer and more reliable electronic components to global automakers. To this end, LG Electronics VS Business Division will apply PQC technology in the development and design of proof-of-concept vehicle infotainment systems to verify reliability. LG Uplus will discover various use cases through the development of PQC authentication service scenarios for vehicles. Cryptolab will be responsible for developing and optimizing PQC algorithms for vehicles based on its accumulated research experience.

Building on its experience of establishing the world's first enterprise-exclusive PQC communication network in April, LG Uplus expects to pioneer the 'quantum security' era in the electronic field by proactively securing next-generation cryptosystems in hardware and software platform environments of automotive parts through collaboration with LG Electronics and Cryptolab. This includes advancing over-the-air (OTA) wireless communication updates, payment services (PoI, Point of Interest), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) wireless communication in the future connected car era.

Choi Taek-jin, head of LG Uplus's Enterprise Division, said, "LG Uplus is leading the 'quantum security' era by pioneering and successfully commercializing PQC," adding, "Through collaboration with LG Electronics, we will widely propagate 'quantum-safe cryptography' to the global market, including the electronic components business."

Eun Seok-hyun, head of LG Electronics VS Business Division, stated, "There is an increasing trend of cybersecurity incidents in the automotive industry," and emphasized, "Internalizing security technology, the most critical area to secure reliability in LG's hardware and software capabilities, is essential."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.