Cybersecurity strengthened through the synergy between Politecnico and Drivesec
Making internet-connected devices more secure and resilient against cyber-attacks. This is the driving goal that the collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and Drivesec, a cybersecurity company, has not only achieved but continues to develop. At the heart of it all is the ability to work together, connecting research and industry, with a constant eye on the evolution of technologies and their implications for training. Particular attention is paid to the cybersecurity of products and connected systems, an area where security is designed and verified from the earliest stages of development.
The collaboration between the university and the company began in 2018, driven by research needs that a small company could not sustain alone. "At the start, we got to know each other and 'tested' one another. We combined shared areas of interest, starting from cybersecurity work, renewing our research agreements every year. The most significant achievement to date is the development of the Weseth® platform," explains Cataldo Basile, lecturer at the Department of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering-DAUIN and coordinator of the Partnership Agreement with the company, who adds: "Since 2023, we have been working together on AI applications in cybersecurity, with the goal of making generative AI increasingly reliable and controllable for IoT applications."
Giuseppe Faranda, founder and CEO of Drivesec, adds: "After spending 30 years working in electronics at a large company, in 2017 I founded Drivesec to focus on product security, with particular attention to the cyber domain. Our first market was the automotive sector, but today we also help companies in other industries develop solutions that are resilient to cyber-attacks." These industries range from automotive to medical and industrial equipment more broadly, all of which, from 2027 onwards, will be required to comply with the Cyber Resilience Act, which will make certification mandatory for every product.
The most significant outcome of the collaboration with the company is Politecnico's substantial contribution to the design of Drivesec's Weseth® platform, a suite of security solutions designed to transform the approach to testing. Thanks to secure remote access and the automation of verification procedures, Weseth® allows stronger validation while using less time and reducing costs. It enables companies to become more autonomous, security-aware, and resilient against digital threats. Looking ahead, the research agenda focuses on investigating how to make AI sufficiently deterministic and reliable for use in critical domains such as cybersecurity, and what changes this will require in processes and products.
The partnership with Politecnico has been fundamental for Drivesec, formalized through a Partnership Agreement. "We needed support on two fronts: the technological expertise to develop a framework to better support our clients, and the opportunity to engage with a research ecosystem that could provide us with top-tier human resources to grow our team," says Faranda. The ability to connect with students with strong technical backgrounds is one of the key advantages of the relationship between the company and Politecnico. "Today," highlights Drivesec's CEO, "we are around 40 people, and a good number of them come from Politecnico: that is an added value, on top of the research capabilities we have been able to draw on." The company now also supports a research doctorate.
Professor Basile shares the same view: "It is important for our students to be able to collaborate with a company like Drivesec. Over the years, the company has hosted several thesis students and has also supported specific activities within our student team, Pwnthem0le." The collaboration between Drivesec and Politecnico is a concrete example of how it is possible to develop high-level research, turn it into innovative applications and products, and at the same time create professional opportunities that help keep talent in Italy.