Teen hacker gains remote control of over 20 Teslas

[waclark]

Because nobody could see that coming from the day every car started to be stuffed with electronics from top to bottom...

Good for the lad. Nothing improves my mood more that making corporation look literally brainless. Go David, Go.

From the article this doesn't look to be a Tesla issue. It's brain dead car owners who don't secure their car with adequate passwords.

 

[waclark]

The hacker states that it not the fault of Telsa. I have to disagree. Why on earth would a person need to remotely access a lot of these features from the internet? Seriously, the security of a Telsa does not seem to be any stronger then the same password you use to login into TechSpot. You know the same passwords that people make too obvious (123456, etc.) or are stolen on a daily basis from company security breaches.

IMO, Telsa is so focused on being a cutting edge, game changing company that sometimes they just fail at basic common sense. A lot of times it works for them, but sometimes you have to look at it this way: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Now get off my lawn

Well, if you spend a moment and think about it, there's tons of reasons I may want to access my car remotely. One, I may live in a place where I want to remote start the car so it can cool down or warm up before I get into it. Second, it's nice to be able to know where your car is via the Internet. For example, my car has a Valet feature that sets a gps zone so I know the Valet isn't driving my car all over town, a la Ferris Bueller. Third, It's nice to know if the car is locked or not, or if someone is unlocking the car when I'm not in it.

As for security, well make your passwords hard. I use a password manager which can create very difficult to hack passwords and you can add MFA to the login process so it's very secure. Now, if you make your password your birthday, well, you can't fix stupid.

 

[waclark]

Because nobody could see that coming from the day every car started to be stuffed with electronics from top to bottom...

You can't make people create a strong password anymore than you can stop people from putting their keys in the visor on the driver's side, or leaving the car unlocked.

 

[waclark]

See...this is why I love my 30 year old truck. Cant hack a computer if it doesnt exist (or in my case, uses a 6 it cut down 8086).
I imagine the people who buy most teslas are the same ones that buy the newest, highest end iphone every year and subsribe to every streaming service rather then buy something they want.

model 3s are cheap enough though you see people who only buy the newest, highest end iphone every 2 years.

I think people are buying Teslas because gas is $5/gal in some places in the US. If you drive a lot you could save enough money in gas savings to buy that iPhone and iWatch every year.

 

[cliffordcooley]

You can't make people create a strong password anymore than you can stop people from putting their keys in the visor on the driver's side, or leaving the car unlocked.

I know someone that would not even bother. They would get out without locking the vehicle, while leaving the keys in the ignition.

 

[Smokin Paul]

Whoopee he hacked the owners phones instead of the car. LOL No way he could hack the Tesla OS.
Tesla pays top hackers to penetration test their software. At one hacking event three hackers drove off in a brand new Roadster given to them for being able to hack into the Tesla OS. It's the only way to make your system hack proof.

If the kid was able to compromise Tesla's software they would pay him for finding a flaw and ask him to keep trying. Tesla is one of the best, perhaps the top software company in the world.

 

[mailpup]

Whoopee he hacked the owners phones instead of the car. LOL No way he could hack the Tesla OS.
Tesla pays top hackers to penetration test their software. At one hacking event three hackers drove off in a brand new Roadster given to them for being able to hack into the Tesla OS. It's the only way to make your system hack proof.

If the kid was able to compromise Tesla's software they would pay him for finding a flaw and ask him to keep trying. Tesla is one of the best, perhaps the top software company in the world.

No way? Didn't you say three hackers did just that? It's immaterial whether or not a hacker gets to drive away with a free car from Tesla. It could still be hacked it seems.

 

[waclark]

I know someone that would not even bother. They would get out without locking the vehicle, while leaving the keys in the ignition.

There are states that actually have laws against that. I know in the mid-west, people would go out and start their cars in the winter because of the cold and snow. Cars were getting stolen so often they passed a law against allowing your car to run unattended.

 

[Hodor]

Gaming industry is already working on mobile racing games where you take over the nearest car (must be from 2017 or newer) and race it against neighboring players on the same road, who are also controlling other people's cars. Just download the app and tap "Hijack". It is expected by 2025 this type of racing will generate more income than Formula 1 and IndyCar combined.

 

[Freddie159]

This could be disastrous for Musk...! If the car parts are to blame, ALL the Teslas in the World need to be recalled...!

The firs thing Tesla needs to do is require a password with symbols, letters, numbers etc in them, no more 'password' or '123456' as the password!!

 

[nightlight236452]

I'm betting Musk never saw this one coming ......

yep