A report in the Financial Times says cyber security researchers were able to remotely gain control of a Tesla Model S and shut the vehicle down at a low speed.
DETROIT, MI - A report in the Financial Times says cyber security researchers were able to hack into and gain control of a Tesla Model S and shut the vehicle down at a low speed.
The electric car was going about five miles an hour when Marc Rogers, principal security researcher at Cloudfare, and Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout, shut the car down, causing all of its screens to go black and the handbrake to come on.
That was one of six significant flaws the duo found. The two cyber security experts plan to detail the hack at the Def Con cyber security conference in Las Vegas on Friday, Tesla has reportedly already issued a patch to fix the flaw, which was available to drivers Thursday.
This follows a well-publicized hack of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee by two other cyber security experts.
Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek hacked into Fiat Chrysler's Uconnect infotainment system and turned the Jeep's air conditioning on, began blasting the radio and finally killed off use of the accelerator altogether - all while Wired writer Andy Greenberg was in the car and driving down a highway in St. Louis.
Later, in a parking lot, they disabled the SUV's brakes. They could only gain control of its steering while it was in reverse.
FCA has since issued a patch for the vulnerable element, which it took Miller and Valasek several months to identify. FCA has also recalled the 1.4 million cars and trucks in the U.S. that have the vulnerability, to ensure that it is patched.
Miller and Valasek plan to reveal part of their findings at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas next month.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.