SKODA has joined a growing list of global automotive businesses partnering with cybersecurity company Upstream as it moves to protect itself from cyber-related risks to manage its operations.

The partnership comes after a spate of cyber attacks, including that against JLR that shut the company down for a month and reportedly cost the car-maker more than $A100 million a week and affected 5000 businesses with a total estimated loss to the UK economy of $A4 billion – the most damaging cyber attack in British history.

Skoda said joining Upstream would support its “unified, proactive approach to cybersecurity across its connected vehicles, digital services, and supporting systems.”It said that as its digital footprint expanded “the need to manage cyber-related risks consistently and efficiently has become increasingly critical for both operational resilience and regulatory compliance.”

“Skoda partnered with Upstream to consolidate cyber threat intelligence, signals, and risk information into a single environment accessible to teams across the organisation,” it said.

“The partnership enables streamlined collaboration, earlier visibility into potential risks, and reduced manual effort associated with compliance processes and internal reporting.”

Skoda’s threat intelligence expert, Miroslav Sivous, said in a statement that the partnership “supports our activities required under R155 and helps us build a more robust cybersecurity resilience across our ecosystem. 

“The partnership gives us the visibility and confidence we need to act proactively,” he said.

“The growing complexity of the connected vehicle ecosystem has expanded the breadth of potential cybersecurity risks for OEMs; from cloud environments and internal IT systems to consumer apps, charging infrastructure, and supply-chain partners,” Skoda said.

Miroslav Sivous, Skoda threat intelligence

“With Upstream’s partnership, Skoda consolidates risk-related information, enabling dozens of cybersecurity and engineering professionals to review findings, share context, ask questions, and document decisions within a unified workspace.

“By streamlining communication and surfacing emerging issues earlier, the partnership enhances situational awareness across Skoda’s connected vehicle and digital ecosystem.

“It also simplifies preparation for compliance reviews by organising evidence, actions, and documentation in one structured environment.”

Skoda joins other automotive-related businesses at Upstream including Hyundai, Volvo Group, BMW, Thales, Mahindra and the Alliance Ventures (Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi).

Upstream said that operations that once required extensive coordination are now handled more efficiently, with clearer processes and reduced administrative burden.“Consolidating workflows into a single environment also improves audit readiness, making compliance a natural output of day-to-day cybersecurity activities,” it said of its cybersecurity process.

“The partnership with Skoda has evolved into a continuous improvement model, with frequent communication and shared feedback loops ensuring the platform adapts to Skoda’s evolving needs.”

Upstream is a cloud-based, AI-powered data management platform purpose-built for connected vehicles, smart mobility, and the IoT ecosystem.