Tesla electric car hacked twice for $US200,000 in cybersecurity competition

A team of hackers has won $US200,000 ($AU305,000) for hacking a Tesla’s modem and infotainment system during a competition designed to identify technical weaknesses in automotive electronic products.

The event – part of the Zero Day Initiative run by cybersecurity giant Trend Micro – offers coders financial rewards for discovering and alerting technology companies of software vulnerabilities in their products, before they are exploited for malicious purposes.

The organisers of the three-day event in Japan say “technical details concerning the vulnerability [of the products]” are not made public until the companies have addressed and fixed the relevant issues.

Synacktiv – the team that hacked the Tesla – earned $US100,000 for using a “two-bug chain to attack the Tesla Infotainment System”, and another $US100,000 for a “three-bug chain [used] against the Tesla Modem.”

The group – which won the overall event – earned a total of $US450,000 ($AU684,000) for successfully hacking various other car accessories, including two types of charging stations, a Sony infotainment system, and other electric-car software available on the market.

The event sees teams of hackers attempting to infiltrate targeted items within a specific period, and are awarded monetary prizes as well as so-called ‘Master of Pwn points’.

According to organisers, the event – formally known as ‘Pwn2Own Automotive 2024’ – handed out more than $US1 million in prize money, with the competition claiming to have identified a total of 49 newly discovered technical vulnerabilities within products targeted.