ERM Advanced Telematics (http://ermtelematics.com) has developed the integrated hardware and software that it says will protect vehicles from ransomware and other cyber attacks.

eCyber will be available to OEMs and the aftermarket as of the fourth quarter of 2018, and can be installed by vehicle importers and fleet managers after a vehicle leaves a factory, as well as during the manufacturing process.

It’s designed to keep hackers from remotely damaging or locking a vehicle, and then demanding a ransom to release the vehicle.

Installed between the vehicle’s external communications device and Controller Area Network Bus (CAN Bus), eCyber is essentially a secured gateway for outside communications to the CAN Bus, limiting access to communications with predefined and known parameters and values. Malicious digital communications that can disrupt a vehicle will be blocked, the company says.