Innovation and Security Collide: Rivian’s Palo Alto Cybersecurity Hackathon Recap

Rivian hosted its 2nd Rivian Cybersecurity Hackathon this past weekend in Palo Alto, California, and invited community members and Rivian employees with cybersecurity backgrounds to partake in a hackathon.

I reached out to Wassym and asked him about the event and his thoughts. Here’s what he said:

Before you buy a car, it’s common knowledge to make sure it meets safety standards, so you know it’s manufactured to protect you and everyone who rides in it. It’s less common to wonder whether the car’s software is built securely to protect you and your data. At Rivian, we believe this should be the standard today as connected cars are now the norm. With much of our software developed in-house by our engineering teams, we have more control over the entire vertical stack and we can make the end-to-end system more robust. 

Just as the feedback from the community is essential in helping us build a better car, feedback from the cybersecurity research community pushes us to build vehicles that inspire more confidence and keep our customers information safe.

A hackathon is an event, typically lasting several days, where people collaborate to solve a problem or identify new opportunities, in this case involving cybersecurity. Rivian aims to build amazing vehicles with the best materials and battery technology, but the software and hardware integration are just as important. Building a robust and safe vehicle is the most important thing for Rivian.

Below are just a few photos that Wassym shared. Congrats to everyone who attended and the winners of the Hackathon.