Certified Automotive Cybersecurity Expert (CACE)
The complete practitioner pathway — compliance, design, implementation, validation and offence.
- Duration
- 16 weeks
- Delivery format
- Hybrid
- Certification
- Certified Automotive Cybersecurity Expert
Overview
What This Program Is For
CACE is the complete practitioner pathway. Sixteen weeks that take an automotive engineer from regulatory fluency through architecture, implementation, validation and offensive testing, assessed by a supervised capstone on real vehicle hardware and defended before a board. It is the credential for people who will be accountable for cybersecurity across a programme, not one discipline within it.
The flagship AutoSec Academy programme. Sixteen weeks that take an automotive engineer from regulatory fluency to hands-on offensive and defensive capability, assessed through a supervised capstone on real hardware.
Who should attend
- Senior engineers moving into cybersecurity leadership
- Security engineers who need breadth across all five disciplines
- Architects and technical leads accountable for programme-level security
- Consultants who must hold their own in any room on the subject
Prerequisites
- Automotive engineering background
- Automotive Cybersecurity Foundations or equivalent
Curriculum
9 Modules Across 16 weeks
Every module is assessed. Durations are indicative for open cohorts and are compressed or extended for corporate delivery.
Foundations
1 weekCSMS and ISO 21434
2 weeksTARA
2 weeksSecure Architecture
2 weeksSecure ECU Development
2 weeksSecurity Validation
2 weeksPenetration Testing
2 weeksFuzz Testing
1 weekCapstone
2 weeks
Learning outcomes
What You Take Back to Your Programme
Capability you can demonstrate, not topics you have been exposed to.
What you will be able to do
- Lead CSMS implementation and type-approval readiness
- Own TARA and security architecture for a vehicle programme
- Implement and validate ECU-level security controls
- Plan and execute offensive testing against vehicle systems
- Present findings and capability gaps to engineering leadership
Career outcomes
- Head of Product Security
- Principal Security Architect
- Cybersecurity Programme Lead
Capability levels
- Cybersecurity Leader
Tools and skills
- Full AutoSec lab toolchain
- CSMS artefact templates
- Threat modelling workbench
- HSM firmware toolchain
- Exploitation and fuzzing frameworks
Labs included
Hands-On Time on Real Hardware
Lab access is included with this program, and the exercises below are assessed rather than optional.
- Included lab2 assessed exercises
AutoSec TARA Lab
Model threats against real vehicle architectures
Objectives
- Define items and assets from a real vehicle architecture
- Derive attack paths and rate feasibility
- Produce cybersecurity goals and requirements
Practical exercises
- Central gateway TARAintermediate4 hours
Full assessment of a domain gateway including diagnostic and OTA interfaces.
- Telematics unit attack pathsadvanced3 hours
Derive and rate attack paths across cellular, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi interfaces.
- Included lab2 assessed exercises
AutoSec Secure Development Lab
Harden ECU software on real hardware
Objectives
- Implement secure boot on an automotive microcontroller
- Integrate an HSM-backed key hierarchy
- Apply SecOC to a CAN communication matrix
Practical exercises
- Secure boot chain of trustadvanced5 hours
Build and verify a signed bootloader with rollback protection.
- SecOC on a CAN busadvanced4 hours
Add authentication and freshness to safety-relevant CAN frames.
- Included lab2 assessed exercises
AutoSec Crypto Lab
Key management that survives production
Objectives
- Design a production key hierarchy
- Provision keys securely at end of line
- Operate certificate lifecycles for V2X and OTA
Practical exercises
- End-to-end key hierarchyadvanced4 hours
Model provisioning, rotation and revocation across supplier and OEM boundaries.
- Cryptographic misuse huntintermediate3 hours
Identify weak modes, hardcoded keys and entropy failures in ECU firmware.
- Included lab2 assessed exercises
AutoSec Red Team Lab
Attack the vehicle to defend it
Objectives
- Map the attack surface of a connected vehicle
- Exploit diagnostic and bus-level weaknesses
- Escalate from a wireless entry point to a safety-relevant domain
Practical exercises
- Diagnostic session takeoveradvanced4 hours
Defeat weak seed-key authentication and reach a privileged UDS session.
- Wireless entry to CAN pivotadvanced5 hours
Chain a wireless foothold into control of an in-vehicle network segment.
- Included lab2 assessed exercises
AutoSec Fuzz Testing Lab
Break protocols before attackers do
Objectives
- Design a protocol fuzzing campaign
- Instrument targets for crash detection
- Triage and de-duplicate findings
Practical exercises
- UDS service fuzzingintermediate3 hours
Fuzz diagnostic services and triage the resulting faults.
- Automotive Ethernet stack fuzzingadvanced4 hours
Campaign against SOME/IP and DoIP handling with coverage feedback.
Certification mapping
Where This Sits in the Framework
How the program maps to the AutoSec Automotive Cybersecurity Capability Framework™ and the certification ladder.
Capability Framework
Cybersecurity Leader
Lead CSMS transformation, security governance and enterprise capability programmes.
- CSMS governance and KPIs
- Security organisation design
- Supplier security management
- Executive reporting and risk acceptance
Certification
AutoSec Certified Master — CACE
The terminal credential. Awarded on completion of the CACE capstone, it evidences end-to-end command of compliance, architecture, implementation, validation and offence.
Exam preparation
- Format
- in person
- Duration
- 2 days
- Passing score
- 80%
- Valid for
- 3 years
- Hold the Expert certification
- Complete the Certified Automotive Cybersecurity Expert programme
- Pass the supervised capstone on real vehicle hardware
- Present findings and a capability plan to an assessment board
Common questions
Certified Automotive Cybersecurity Expert (CACE) FAQ
What candidates and their managers ask before enrolling.
- Can I take CACE without the individual programs first?
- Yes, and most candidates do — CACE covers the same ground in an integrated sequence rather than as separate courses. What it assumes is an automotive engineering background and Foundations-level literacy. Candidates without either find sixteen weeks extremely compressed.
- What does the capstone involve?
- A supervised project on real vehicle hardware spanning risk assessment, an implemented control, validation evidence and an offensive test of your own work — then a defence before an assessment board. It is the component candidates report as the most demanding and the most valuable.
- Is CACE recognised outside AutoSec Academy?
- It is an AutoSec Academy credential mapped to Level 6 of the AutoSec Automotive Cybersecurity Capability Framework™. It is not a regulatory qualification, and no training credential is — UNECE R155 approves management systems and vehicle types, not individuals. What it evidences is assessed capability across all five disciplines.
- How much of the sixteen weeks is lab time?
- Roughly half, rising through the programme. All five AutoSec labs are included, and the capstone is entirely hands-on.
Ready to Start Certified Automotive Cybersecurity Expert?
Enrol as an individual, or talk to us about running this program for your engineering team.