Hackers Successfully Take Over Model S - Tesla To Issue Software Patch

Cybersecurity researchers said they took control of a Tesla Motors Inc. Model S car and turned it off at low speed, one of six significant flaws they found that could allow hackers to take control of the vehicle, the Financial Times reported.

Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm Lookout, and Marc Rogers, principal security researcher at Cloudflare, said they decided to hack a Tesla car because the company has a reputation for understanding software than most automakers, the FT said.

"We shut the car down when it was driving initially at a low speed of five miles per hour," Rogers told the paper. "All the screens go black, the music turns off and the handbrake comes on, lurching it to a stop."

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MDarringer - 8/6/2015 10:45:14 AM

-3 Boost

Imagine going 70mph and having the e brake come on. The hacking of cars must summon manufacturers' full attention.

222max - 8/6/2015 11:17:51 AM

-2 Boost

This whole trend is pretty frightening. The more cars are connected to the internet the more hackable they become.

TheSteve - 8/6/2015 11:24:48 AM

+1 Boost

Article: "...In a statement, Tesla said the hackers did not turn off the car remotely, but from inside the vehicle..."

Assuming this is true, then this whole story is much ado about nothing. To counteract this "threat", do not allow hackers to sit in your vehicle while you are operating it. Duh!

MDarringer - 8/6/2015 11:53:00 AM

-5 Boost

It is not "much ado about nothing" because it shows that Tesla--a brand that supposedly is more software savvy--is vulnerable.

TheSteve - 8/6/2015 2:14:14 PM

-2 Boost

MDarringer: If the vulnerability is exploited by having a malicious person inside the car, and hooking up their laptop to the car's computer system (as it is alleged to be, in this case), then it's very easily prevented: Don't allow people to plug their laptop into your car's computer system (they might be evil, especially if they're strangers).

This is NOT a "remote control" scenario. The scenario is as follows:
- Evil person must enter vehicle with laptop and interface cable
- Evil person connects cable
- Evil person can do potentially bad things, but only as long as they are inside the vehicle, doing those things from the laptop.

If you're worried about high-tech evil-doers implanting a time-delayed virus, worm, or other malware into the car's computer system, which will trigger at a later time while they're not there, then realize (a) we're not talking about this, and (b) it's far, far easier to do malice in a low-tech, low-effort way, which requires no interior access to the vehicle, such as damaging hydraulic brake lines.

Articles like this unnecessarily alarm people with little or no knowledge of computer systems.