These Guys Managed To Hack A Tesla Despite Being 12 Miles Away

Thanks to a rise in Internet connectivity for cars combined with the increasing electrification of basic controls, car hacking represents a very real and very scary threat. Last year Fiat Chrysler Automobiles had to recall 1.4 million vehicles after a group of hackers remotely ‘attacked’ a Jeep Cherokee as an experiment, and now a team of Chinese researches from ‘Keen Security Lab’ managed to expose some security flaws in a Tesla Model S.

They were able to control the electric seats, open the boot and sunroof, and - crucially - operate the brakes. While much of the experiment was performed in sight of the vehicles, at one point the researchers called a colleague in an office 12 miles away, who was able to deploy the brakes remotely.

The team claims their methods will work on multiple Tesla models, but that’s no longer the case - the hack requires something of a loophole, which Tesla has since ‘closed’ in response to the tests. The company said:

“The issue demonstrated is only triggered when the web browser is used, and also required the car to be physically near to and connected to a malicious Wi-Fi hotspot. Our realistic estimate is that the risk to our customers was very low, but this did not stop us from responding quickly.”

Source: The Guardian