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Case Study

Amovio enhances its approach to TARA with Ansys Medini


Ansys medini analyze software has transformed our risk assessment process, saving us hundreds of hours in the development of a robust cybersecurity management system designed specifically for compliance with automotive industry standards.”

Francesco Mealli
Automotive Security and Privacy Project Lead / AUMOVIO


ANSYS Supports an Industry-Compliant Automotive Cybersecurity Workflow That Reduced AUMOVIO’S Analysis Time by 86%

In an industry driven by continuous innovation, automotive cybersecurity is a growing challenge. It reflects the increasing integration of connected and autonomous vehicle systems, a development that significantly expands the attack surface of a vehicle. In turn, more access points are created, leaving critical vehicle systems — including the driver data that supports them — vulnerable to rogue actors.

In response to this challenge, AUMOVIO, (previously known as Continental Automotive), sought to create an efficient, traceable, scalable solution that could streamline risk assessments. The imperative was to ensure compliance with ISO/SAE 21434 and UNECE R155 standards while managing any limitations or risks associated with existing project resources.

Challenges

Rising consumer demands for connected and autonomous vehicles underscored the need for a robust cybersecurity management system (CSMS) that could respond to imminent threats and satisfy stringent automotive industry requirements. If CSMS is not applied, any products coming out of development can’t be sold in the EU or United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) countries.

To this end, AUMOVIO faced challenges in scaling its threat analysis and risk assessment (TARA) process efficiently. These included lengthy manual analysis, difficult to trace documentation, limited resources, and other issues that made it difficult for engineers to satisfy evolving standards during development.

Engineering Solutions 

Ansys medini analyze for Cybersecurity software provided AUMOVIO with a systematic model-based approach to cybersecurity risk assessment. By leveraging the “Asset Libraries and Catalogs” feature based on the latest standards and state-of-the-art methods, the team significantly reduced time spent on:

  • Assets identification
  • Threat and damage scenario elicitation
  • Attack tree analysis
  • Risk determination and treatment decision.

Seamless integration with IBM DOORS and Rhapsody software enabled the efficient management of requirements and architecture, while collaborative workflows democratized the TARA process across teams. Together, these solutions ensured traceability, data consistency, and compliance with AUMOVIO’s internal standards.

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Benefits

  • Ansys, part of Synopsys, supported the AUMOVIO Standard ISO21434-compliant workflow for cybersecurity risk management.
  • An intuitive, collaborative workflow in medini analyze software with
  • guided TARA democratized the user experience among engineering teams, regardless of skill level.
  • Teams also benefited from an automated process to update existing TARA based on new vulnerabilities and threats.
  • Attack tree investigation in medini analyze software reduced analysis time by 86% (i.e., 400 hours in Excel for a representative project, versus 56 hours using Ansys solutions).
  • A seamless import and usage of engineering artifacts from DOORS to medini analyze software saved engineering teams up to 200 hours of development time.
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