Vehicle Cybersecurity and OBD Networking Standards Architect

Mark Zachos leads SAE, ISO and TMC committees governing J1939 network defense, J3138 OBD port security and connected vehicle diagnostics. As an educator and engineer, he also defines the standards that secure light- and heavy-duty platforms worldwide.

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Mission

Mark Zachos equips engineering students, OEMs and military programs with the technical framework necessary for cyber resilience. Through academic leadership and SAE, ISO and TMC committee work, he translates complex protocols into actionable defense strategies.

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Standards

From SAE J1939 to J3005, Mark Zachos has authored and shaped the standards adopted by global automotive and trucking OEMs and defense contractors. His work ensures in-vehicle systems are engineered to be resilient, reliable and secure against intrusion.

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Lab

At the University of Detroit Mercy’s Vehicle Cyber Engineering (VCE) Lab, Mark Zachos integrates decades of industry experience into a curriculum built on real-world vehicle cybersecurity standards, giving students hands-on access to vehicle network defense technologies.

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Insights

Drawing on decades of industry standards creation, engineering instruction and vehicle diagnostics development, Mark Zachos analyzes the evolution of OBD standards, CAN bus security and the future of automotive trucking technology and cybersecurity.

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Training the Next Generation in Vehicle Cybersecurity

Find. Fight. Fix. It’s not just a tagline. It’s the syllabus for vehicle defense. And Mark Zachos is the instructor.

With nearly 30 years of faculty experience at the University of Michigan-Dearborn teaching electrical and computer engineering and now in his current role at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), Mark develops hands-on programs where the material isn’t hypothetical. The vulnerabilities are real. The standards students work with are ones Mark helped write.

As a vehicle diagnostics trainer for the U.S. Army and creator and organizer of the Cybersecurity Station challenge at the American Trucking Associations’ annual TMCSuperTech National Technician Skills Competitions, Mark trains engineers, fleet technicians and military personnel to diagnose and defend the in-vehicle networks that modern transportation depends on. His students don’t just enter the industry — they graduate prepared to define it.

Heavy-duty truck technicians competing in Mark Zachos cybersecurity challenge at the TMCSuperTech national skills competition.

“Having the knowledge provided by Detroit Mercy’s Vehicle Cyber Engineering program absolutely aids in my ability to understand requirements and contributes to the most secure and efficient design.”
–Victor Carpenter, student

Mark Zachos:
Four Decades. Twenty-five Standards.
One Mission.

1987

Engineering Entrepreneur

Mark founds vehicle diagnostics and engineering training company, The Dearborn Group in the basement of his Farmington Hills, Michigan, home.

1987

1991

Diagnostics Engineering

Mark leaves his software engineering job at United Technologies after six years to run his company full-time as DG Technologies, moving it to a larger space in Farmington Hills. He acquires Synercon Technologies in 2019 and continues making its vehicle crash data extraction tools.

1991

1993

Engineering and Academia

Mark starts as an adjunct instructor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, where he teaches for the next 28 years. In 2021, he moves to the University of Detroit Mercy to teach in the Graduate Vehicle Cyber Engineering program there and create its hands-on VCE Laboratory.

1993

2001

Standards Task Forces and Committees

Mark becomes involved with the SAE J1939 Technical Standards Committee and joins the standards committees and task forces for other SAE standards, for ATA TMC, for ISO and for IEEE.

2001

2022

The Top of His Field – SAE Fellow

SAE International inducts Mark into its elite Class of Fellows, recognized for professional merit in automotive and commercial vehicle engineering, for his significant impact on mobility.

2022

SAE J1939-91C

Mark begins chairing the committee for the SAE J1939-91C, an automotive standard that establishes trusted, secure and optional encrypted in-vehicle messaging using complex cryptographic methods to ensure authenticity, integrity and confidentiality.

2026

TMC Silver Spark Plug Recipient

The ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council awards Mark the trucking industry’s highest honor for excellence in commercial vehicle maintenance and leadership in cybersecurity.

2026

Who is Mark Zachos?

Mark Zachos is a vehicle cybersecurity standards author, SAE J1939 Network Security Task Force chairman and automotive engineering educator with more than 30 years of experience developing the frameworks that secure connected vehicles worldwide. He is a university engineering instructor, first at University of Michigan-Dearborn for 28 years and now, since 2021, at University of Detroit Mercy in its Graduate Vehicle Cyber Engineering Program. In 1987, Mark founded The Dearborn Group in Farmington Hills, Mich., which he runs as DG Technologies, developing and selling secure vehicle diagnostics and engineering tools, and Synercon Technologies, specializing in hardware and software that capture and analyze vehicle crash data.

What topics does Mark Zachos cover on his website?

Mark Zachos’s website covers four core areas — his educational mission across engineering and military communities, his leadership in SAE and ISO vehicle cybersecurity standards, the Vehicle Cyber Engineering (VCE) program at the University of Detroit Mercy and his ongoing blog on vehicle cybersecurity trends and automotive technology.

Why did Mark Zachos receive the TMC Silver Spark Plug award?

Mark Zachos received the 2026 TMC Silver Spark Plug award, one of the highest honors in the trucking industry, for more than two decades of leadership in commercial vehicle cybersecurity and network communications standards — including chairing the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Cybersecurity Issues Task Force and creating and running the Cybersecurity Station challenge at the annual TMCSuperTech National Technician Skills Competitions.

Who develops vehicle cybersecurity and OBD security standards in the United States?

SAE, ISO and TMC committees are responsible for identifying what industry standards need to be set and doing the work to set them. Mark Zachos chairs multiple SAE and ISO technical committees, including the SAE J1939 Network Security Task Force and the SAE J3138 Data Link Connector Security Committee. He also leads the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to the ISO Road Vehicle Electronics Standards Sub-committee as well as the Cybersecurity Issues Task Force for the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC).

Why do vehicle cybersecurity standards matter?

Modern vehicles rely on CAN bus networks, OBD diagnostic ports and J1939 heavy-duty protocols that were designed for performance, not security. Standards developed by engineers like Mark Zachos establish the defense frameworks to protect these systems from intrusion across commercial, consumer and military vehicle platforms.

What is the SAE J3138 standard?

SAE J3138 establishes security protocols for vehicle Data Link Connectors — the onboard diagnostics (OBD) ports present on virtually every modern vehicle. Mark Zachos chairs the SAE committee responsible for developing and maintaining this standard, which establishes protocols that protect diagnostic ports from unauthorized access across light and heavy-duty vehicles.

What vehicle cybersecurity standards has Mark Zachos helped develop?

Mark Zachos has contributed to more than SAE and ISO vehicle standards, including J1939 network security, J3138 OBD port hardening, and J3005 diagnostic dongle security, covering light-duty, heavy-duty, and military vehicle platforms across domestic and international frameworks. His most recent committee chair appointment is for development of the SAE J1939-91C standard, which provides methods for establishing trust and securing mutual messages with optional encryption.

Where can I find expert analysis on vehicle cybersecurity and OBD standards?

Mark Zachos regularly publishes research on vehicle cybersecurity, SAE standards development and automotive diagnostics in technical papers that he presents at national and worldwide conferences. His insights, drawn on more than 30 years of standards committee leadership and engineering education can be found in TMC’s Fleet Maintenance & Technology and FleetOwner magazines and at markzachos.com.

Where can automotive engineering students study vehicle cybersecurity?

The University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) offers one of the country’s few available a master’s degree programs in vehicle cyber engineering (VCE). UDM’s Graduate VCE Program recruited Mark Zachos in 2021 as an instructor and to build the school’s VCE Laboratory. The program combines active SAE and ISO standards development with hands-on curriculum in CAN bus security, OBD diagnostics and in-vehicle network defense.

Who does Mark Zachos teach and train on vehicle cybersecurity?

Mark Zachos delivers vehicle cybersecurity education across a wide range of audiences, including engineering students, OEM and Tier-1 supplier teams, U.S. military programs, SAE International committees and industry conference attendees through workshops and keynote presentations.

Where does Mark Zachos teach and speak on vehicle cybersecurity?

Mark Zachos teaches vehicle cybersecurity and automotive engineering across multiple venues — including the University of Detroit Mercy, U.S. Army TARDEC training programs, SAE International committees, OEM workshops and industry conferences worldwide.

What has Mark Zachos taught throughout his academic career?

Mark Zachos taught electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn for 28 years, while simultaneously leading industry workshops, coaching engineers across OEM and supplier organizations, and instructing at military and SAE training programs. He now teaches in the University of Detroit Mercy’s Graduate Vehicle Cyber Engineering program and directs its VCE Lab, which he created in 2021.