Berlin researchers hack Tesla's autopilot
All it takes is 600 euros worth of equipment and the necessary know-how to crack the most valuable secrets of the electric car company Tesla. Three IT security researchers from Berlin have managed to read the crucial circuit board of a Tesla. They even decode the legendary "Elon mode".
Three researchers from the Technical University of Berlin have discovered a security vulnerability in the autopilot system of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla, according to a report in Der Spiegel. As the magazine reports, citing information from IT security researchers, they managed to hack the system and gain access to the circuit board, which is actually protected. They were able to read out parts of the system and reconstruct how the autopilot works.
"We were very surprised at how easily we were able to access Tesla company secrets," said researcher Christian Werling, who discovered the vulnerability together with Niclas Kühnapfel and Hans-Niklas Jacob, to Der Spiegel. They assume that all vehicles are affected by the vulnerability. Competitors could use the information obtained to replicate a significant part of an autopilot system.
With the help of equipment worth 600 euros, they could carry out a so-called voltage glitch attack on the autopilot board. This is an attack with briefly manipulated voltage. However, such an attack is not practicable outside the laboratory, so manipulating the autopilot of other people's parked Tesla vehicles is hardly conceivable, the magazine reports further.
According to the hackers, however, they were able to prove that Tesla's vehicles have what is known as "Elon mode" and activate it. This is a secret driving mode that allows the car to drive completely autonomously without the driver having to regularly hold their hands on the steering wheel. They were also able to reconstruct individual GPS data and a video of a Tesla driver that had actually been deleted.
The Berlin doctoral students will be presenting their research on Wednesday at the Chaos Computer Club congress starting in Hamburg. They have reported the vulnerability to Tesla in advance. Tesla did not respond to an inquiry from Der Spiegel about the vulnerability.
Read also:
- Why there is still no EU funding for green Saar steel
- 3 billion Saar Fund is unconstitutional
- Lack of snow also opens up new opportunities for winter tourism
- Abrupt end to e-car subsidies
After exposing the vulnerability in Tesla's autopilot system, the researchers plan to showcase their findings at the Chaos Computer Club congress. Despite their ability to activate Tesla's secret 'Elon mode' and retrieve deleted data, the practicality of such attacks outside a controlled environment remains questionable. Meanwhile, a Tesla hacker associated with the Chaos Computer Club has claimed to have successfully hacked an autonomous Tesla vehicle, causing 'chaos' on the road.
Source: www.ntv.de
