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Tesla target of Chinese hacking contest

tesla-hacked-china

Bloomberg

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. has found ways to remotely control the Tesla car’s locks, horn, headlights and skylight while the car is in motion, the Beijing-based Internet security company said in a posting on its Sina Weibo account. Wu Jing, a director of investor relations for the company, said its information technology department conducted the experiment, without elaborating.

These are all things you can control via the smartphone app while the car is in motion (fun trick to play on wife is cracking sunroof during rain) and maybe Tesla needs to rethink which of these things should be happening in motion.

So, it would appear that the hackers would be attacking the Brew API that the apps and third party apps use. That’s not terribly serious but obviously should be watched…as Tesla plans to do…

“While Tesla is not associated with the conference and is not a sponsor of the competition, we support the idea of providing an environment in which responsible security researchers can help identify potential vulnerabilities,” Palo Alto, California-based Tesla said in an e-mail. “We hope that the security researchers will act responsibly and in good faith.”

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites. Tesla Model 3, X and Chevy Bolt owner…5 ebikes and counting