It almost sounds like the premise of a high tech heist movie, but this actually happened. 19 year old hacker, David Colombo, managed to find a bug in the Tesla system and took full advantage in displaying his technological prowess by fiddling with some of the EV’s features. The flaw in third party software allowed the clued-up teenager to access 25 of the world’s leading EV manufacturer’s vehicles in 13 different countries as he reported in a series of amusing tweets.
The German based hacker who is self-described as an information technology specialist continued to state that this bug allowed him to unlock the doors and windows, start them and disable their security systems. This would have been awkward if one of the owners was sitting in their car, but Colombo claimed he could see if a driver was present in the car or not and enable the sound system and flash the headlights only if the vehicle was moving.
While this may be a contentious debate on personal safety and wellbeing, the internet of things generally enables us greater freedoms but one can only begin to imagine what havoc can be caused through malicious intent. @david_colombo_ stated on January 11, 2022 “I think it’s pretty dangerous if someone is able to remotely blast music on full volume or open the windows/doors while you are on the highway.”
The teenager thankfully did not reveal exactly how he managed to penetrate the system but maintained that it was not directly through Tesla’s software or infrastructure but rather a third party – a fault he accredits to the owners. This may not be on Elon Musk’s radar but in later tweets, Colombo stated that Tesla’s security team had logically reached out to him in an effort to investigate the issue and prevent future threats.
