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posted by martyb on Wednesday September 21 2016, @11:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the CAN-you-believe-it? dept.

Chinese hackers have attacked Tesla electric cars from afar, using exploits that can activate brakes, unlock doors, and fold mirrors from up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) away while the cars are in motion.

Keen Security Lab senior researchers Sen Nie, Ling Liu, and Wen Lu, along with director Samuel Lv, demonstrated the hacks against a Tesla Model S P85 and 75D and say their efforts will work on multiple Tesla models.

The Shanghai, China-based hacking firm has withheld details of the world-first zero day attacks and privately disclosed the flaws to Tesla.

The firm worked on the attack for several months, eventually gaining access to the motor that moves the driver's seat, turning on indicators, opening the car's sunroof and activating window wipers.

The Chinese should not make Iron Man angry...

According to Ars Technica :

Tesla has already issued an over-the-air firmware patch to fix the situation.

Previous hacks of Tesla vehicles have required physical access to the car. The Keen attack exploited a bug in Tesla's Web browser, which required the vehicle to be connected to a malicious Wi-Fi hotspot. This allowed the attackers to stage a "man-in-the-middle" attack, according to researchers. In a statement on the vulnerability, a Tesla spokesman said, "our realistic estimate is that the risk to our customers was very low, but this did not stop us from responding quickly." After Keen brought the vulnerability to Bugcrowd, the company managing Tesla's bug bounty program, it took just 10 days for Tesla to generate a fix.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by stranger-n06 on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:35PM

    by stranger-n06 (6351) on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:35PM (#404833) Journal

    ...are a cool concept for a different world - a world where people can trust each other as decent beings. Right now that isn't this world...I'll keep control of the vehicle of my choice, thank you.

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  • (Score: 1) by shipofgold on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:21PM

    by shipofgold (4696) on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:21PM (#404906)

    Not sure I agree with you. I have seen how others on the road drive. If the majority of the cars on the road could be driverless, I think I prefer my chances with the hackers over the crazies/drunks/makeup artists/texters.

    FWIW, I am looking forward to the day I can get on a freeway and tell the car "exit at 395" and then take a nap or watch a movie.

    • (Score: 1) by stranger-n06 on Monday September 26 2016, @03:46PM

      by stranger-n06 (6351) on Monday September 26 2016, @03:46PM (#406674) Journal

      Hmmm, so you advocate for driverless cars precisely because they remove the human element? Curious - I've always considered driverless cars in terms of the luxury element, i.e. 'exit at 395'. The concept of enforced driverless vehicles in the name of public safety rears its head when put into that framework - and that's disconcerting. Images of controlled personal movement and extreme surveillance pop into mind. Totalitarian regimes have traditionally been keen on replacing the human element with automation as it is much easier to control a machine than it is to control a human being. Risk is a fact of life on planet Earth - I prefer the freedom of choice and personal control over the fear of risk, be that in the form of dangerous drivers or dangerous hackers.

      Again, if this were a nicer world driverless cars would be super terrific - but it's not a nice world...and that's why we can't have nice things. Sad but true. 😞