Budapest, Hungary - Jun 6, 2026 - Automotive cybersecurity solution provider, PCA Cyber Security has published its Q1 2026 Global Automotive Threat Intelligence Report, the latest edition of its quarterly automotive cybersecurity news briefing tracking automotive cybersecurity trends and incidents in 2026.
The report finds that automotive-specific vulnerabilities have doubled in twelve months. PCA Cyber Security’s threat intelligence team identified 265 new CVEs in Q1 2026, a 28 per cent rise over Q4 2025 and a 102 per cent increase year-on-year vs Q1 2025.
An example of the headline incidents noted by PCA Cyber Security in Q1 include a cyber-physical "bricking" event, where attackers compromised a telematics provider and left car owners unable to unlock or start vehicles via the mobile app for up to two weeks, a 12.4 million-record breach at a major online auto marketplace (executed via AI-assisted voice phishing against the companies help desk) and a 200 GB IP leak from a Tier-1 electronics supplier exposing design files for multiple OEMs.
January's Pwn2Own Automotive contest in Tokyo produced 76 zero-days and $1.047 million in payouts, with the most consequential results targeting EV charging infrastructure from Autel, ChargePoint, and Alpitronic.
"2026 is the year automotive cybersecurity stops being a policy alignment exercise and becomes operational proof," said Vlad Ryabyshkin, Chief Technology Officer at PCA Cyber Security. "The Q1 data shows threats are scaling faster than traditional defences, and the human perimeter and cloud control plane are now as critical as the in-vehicle network."
PCA Cyber Security recommends immediate adoption of phishing-resistant MFA (FIDO2) across help desk functions and a move toward a "degraded mode" telematics architecture to keep vehicles functional during cloud outages.
The full Q1 2026 Global Automotive Cybersecurity Report is available at https://pcacybersecurity.com/resources/threat_intelligence_quarterly_report.
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Company Name: PCA Cyber Security
Contact Person: Laura Martisiute
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Country: Hungary
Website: https://pcacybersecurity.com
Press Release Distributed by ABNewswire.com
To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Automotive Cybersecurity News Q1 2026 - Vehicle Vulnerabilities Double Year-on-Year And Hackers “Brick” Thousands of Cars
