It’s simple: hack the security system of Model 3 and take it. Of course, you have to be in Vancouver during Pwn2Own, a computer security event where the greatest experts and some of the largest technology companies in the world go. Tesla has been with a reward program for years for anyone who has found a security flaw in any of their products. In fact, it has delivered hundreds and thousands of dollars to different people who have exposed vulnerabilities in their systems, according to sources close to the project consulted by Electrek.
Also, to encourage the search for more bugs, Tesla has publicly clarified that if someone manages to hack the software of any of its vehicles and reports it to the rewards program, the guarantee will not be invalidated, in addition to increasing the payment for failures found for up to $ 15,000.
But to make things even more interesting they are going to give a Model 3 to the person who manages to hack the safety of the car during the Pwn2Own event held in Vancouver, where dozens of important companies besides Tesla, such as Microsoft, Google and Oracle will be present.
It is the first time an automaker participates in the specially made for hackers and security experts event organized by the initiative Zero Day of Trend Micro.
David Lau, Vice President of Vehicle Software at Tesla, commented on the announcement:
“We develop our cars with the highest standards of safety in every respect, and our work with the security research community is invaluable to us. Since launching our bug bounty program in 2014 – the first to include a connected consumer vehicle – we have continuously increased our investments into partnerships with security researchers to ensure that all Tesla owners constantly benefit from the brightest minds in the community. We look forward to learning about, and rewarding, great work in Pwn2Own so that we can continue to improve our products and our approach to designing inherently secure systems.”
Creating reward programs to find security vulnerabilities helps the company to prevent such failures from ending up on the internet and endangering vehicle owners. For example, in 2016, a group of Chinese hackers found a way to take control of a Model S through the car’s Wi-Fi. It was reported to the company that they released a software update and thus a potential catastrophe was avoided.
As long as your work complies with our bug bounty policy, Tesla will not void your warranty if you hack our software https://t.co/HhibE1UpRC https://t.co/NIISSrrViD
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 5, 2018
