The automated future is rapidly approaching everything from restaurant chains to electric cars. However, as automation increases, security fears do as well, and as a teen Tesla Hacker has recently proven, there are reasons to be worried.
Dozens of cars remote operated by Teen Tesla Hacker
Reported by Wired, 19-year-old security researcher David Colombo recently proved that Tesla vehicles aren't as secure as many believe. As electric vehicles bridge the gap between car and computer, more security issues are included as a result.
Due to vulnerabilities found in a third-party app, Colombo was able to gain remote access to Tesla vehicles. While some features of the car were unavailable to use, the vulnerabilities found in the third-party app were uncomfortable.
For example, Colombo found that he could remotely unlock Tesla cars and even start keyless driving. This means that the teen Tesla Hacker could unlock any car he wanted and simply drive away. Additionally, the security researcher could open windows, blast music and start flashing lights, the latter two being extremely dangerous for drivers.
On Twitter, Colombo revealed that he had gained control of “25+ Teslas in 13 countries without the owners’ knowledge”. The hacker could also see the exact location of cars and drivers as well as see whether or not a driver was present.
Read More: Tesla engineers claim Elon Musk is misleading the public on Autopilot dangers
A worrying future?
As cars become more built around computers, security issues will always arise. For example, self-driving technology could, one day, be good enough to take drunk or sleeping drivers home without endangering themselves or others. However, if hackers are able to control where cars go, that could lead to horrifying scenarios.
At the moment, Tesla hacking is still dangerous, but not as dangerous as it could be. However, it is a worrying look into an issue that will effect far more than just Tesla in the future.