It would be a vast understatement to claim that car safety is a matter of great importance, so Tesla’s security vulnerability is all patched up now after two hackers successfully infiltrated into its system. The company has been all but forced to provide an update for their Model S after some severe safety issues.
Security analysts, Kevin Mahaffey and Marc Rogers, who observed the architecture and engineering programming of the Tesla model, managed to hack into the car’s system and effectively influence its functions. By simply plugging a laptop to the car’s network access port, through a remote Trojan malware, they gained limited but dangerous control.
They were able to simply stop the engine, putting an end to its power, to which the Tesla model could react in one of two ways. If the car’s speed was around 8 miles per hour, the vehicle would slowly and gracefully come to a leisured stop, allowing the driver control over the wheel, but not the actual motor functions.
If the Tesla Model S travelled at speeds below 8 miles per hour, the handbrake was automatically engaged. This security flaw has been since fixed with the help of the two security analysts. Safety in what might soon be an autonomous car is of grave importance for the vehicle to even enter the market.
There are dangers already estimated to be possible with self-driving cars, without adding the concerns of hackers taking control from the driver. The consequences could be damaging to the company and deadly for the drivers if not careful.
Both Mahaffey and Rogers plan on detailing their research further at DefCon in Las Vegas, a hacker conference meant to inform and display security flaws in numerous technological devices. While the vulnerability in Tesla’s vehicle has been fixed, more are in need to be repaired before an official launched, that has been delayed since 2012.
While the model has presented security flaws, Mahaffey claims that Tesla is still the most security-focused company in the market at the moment, so the two of them will continue their work of scrutinizing and fixing the vehicle’s possible vulnerabilities.
It’s a good thing too, since Tesla plans for an U.S. release on September 30th, later this year and has already claimed that it would be shipping around 50,000 unites. No security breaches can be allowed to roam the streets and endanger the lives of many. Apparently though, Tesla’s on it.
Image source: transportevolved.com
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