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posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 13 2020, @01:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the pwn2own dept.

Hack a Tesla, get a Model 3 and nearly $1 million - Roadshow:

Alright, hacker guy or gal, this is your time to shine. If you're not familiar with the Zero Day Intiative (ZDI), it's calling all friendly hackers extraordinaire once again for a good cause. This time, if if[sic] anyone manages to hack a Tesla, they'll get nearly $1 million and a shiny-new Model 3.

ZDI confirmed on Thursday that Tesla will once again be the big-name sponsor for its automotive category. Increasingly, automakers turn to friendly hackers to exploit their systems to keep our machines safe. Thus, ZDI has issued a new challenge for this year's "Pwn2Own" contest.

If an individual is able to completely compromise a Tesla Model 3, they get the car as part of Tier 1 prizes. Not only will they go home with a new Model 3, but they'll immediately earn a cash prize of $500,000 from ZDI. Yet, the most skilled have a chance for even more cash. If a contestant ticks off a few hacks in extra categories, they'll earn up to $200,000 more on top of the car and $500,000. These areas are "infotainment root persistence," "autopilot root persistence" and "arbitrary control of the CAN Bus." Each area has its own prize amount, but all hack all three, and it totals up to $200,000.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday January 13 2020, @06:29AM (6 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday January 13 2020, @06:29AM (#942660) Journal

    They must have considerable confidence that their cars are near impossible to hack. Probably haven't budgeted for more than a 3 to 5 prizes. Heck, maybe they fully expect to give out no prizes.

    With such low odds of success, plus the difficulties in obtaining a Tesla, why even try? This isn't some $100 hobbyist board, it's a $40k car. Maybe there is a way to hack a Tesla, and I can find it, horribly rusty though I am at finding exploits. But I'm not going to try. I also know that unlike DRM, this kind of stuff can be secured. It doesn't even take a whole lot of effort. Like, don't use weak or compromised cryptography such as SHA1.

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  • (Score: 2) by ledow on Monday January 13 2020, @10:22AM (2 children)

    by ledow (5567) on Monday January 13 2020, @10:22AM (#942686) Homepage

    If you want people to hack on it, provide access to one for free.

    Literally put a CANbus adaptor and a wireless network that the machine is joined to, live, on the Internet, open to everyone.

    Then see how far your prize funds go...

    Why would you buy a $40k car, to break it, only to win another (broken) $40k car, especially if you know they are easily broken and disagree with the product being in the state you perceive it to be?

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday January 13 2020, @10:55AM (1 child)

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Monday January 13 2020, @10:55AM (#942689)

      > Why would you buy a $40k car, to break it,

      $700k?

      • (Score: 2) by ledow on Monday January 13 2020, @09:41PM

        by ledow (5567) on Monday January 13 2020, @09:41PM (#942871) Homepage

        I can send you $700k... all you have to do is spend $40k... and hope like hell that you win.

        You wouldn't enter it for a pyramid scheme, let alone a damn security vulnerability contest requiring extreme skill.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @03:47PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 13 2020, @03:47PM (#942761)

    Or a marketing ploy.

    People I know who bought a Tesla reported that on a highway trip all the (visual) electronics shut off and took something like 5 minutes to reboot. While travelling at speed.

    I'll take a less cool car that was designed by automotive engineers instead.

    • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Monday January 13 2020, @11:35PM (1 child)

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Monday January 13 2020, @11:35PM (#942905)

      I own a model 3. it does happen ('black screen') lcd system crashes.

      it does not affect the car and driving; but any display based things or things that need display input (press) won't work until that system reboots.

      no safety issues other than what you may miss from the center screen.

      its unsettling, but I can't think of much that you -need- while driving forward on a highway, other than steering, braking, visibility. none of those are affected. the system reboots in under 20 seconds (I have not timed it, but its not hella long).

      other vendors have this issue. I can't say who, but they are out there and lots of people know it. nvidia and TI have some fault in this, too.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @05:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @05:32AM (#943006)

        no safety issues other than what you may miss from the center screen.

        Like speed, fuel and warning lights. Jeez, in planes they put in base level instruments if the glass cockpit goes to lunch.

        Who the fuck needs nvidia and their code in a car?