Hack a Tesla Car and Win $10,000 - Unhaggle

Security experts will have the opportunity to earn themselves $10,000 for using their hacking skills. The task – breach the security of a Tesla Model S, the famous electric supercar built by Elon Musk.

The competition, which is reportedly the first of its kind, will take place at the SyScan Conference in Beijing from July 16^th to July 17^th, and anyone attending is free to enter. While there have not been many details released as to the specifics of the competition, there will be a Tesla and a few computers on site. Some examples of what the winner would have to complete include controlling the Tesla from the PC or making the in-dash browser visit specified websites. The latter may be an attempt to see if a malware infection is possible in the vehicle.

Tesla recognizes that when it comes to the security of vehicles, the potential for digital attacks has increased over the past few years. Last year, it was reported that researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valask successfully took control of Ford and Toyota cars as part of a project funded by the Data Advanced Research Projects Agency. They were able to turn on the brakes and jolt the steering wheel of the cars – something a driver wouldn’t want to happen outside of their control.

It’s no secret that cars are becoming increasingly more high-tech. They are connected to the internet and reliant on software to perform standard automatic functions, making them more susceptible to the risk of digital infiltration. Competitions such as the one being held at SyScan should help progress the research into how to prevent or at least mitigate these attacks.

Tesla will not be involved in or endorse the competition in any way. If the participants are able to hack the vehicle, they are not obligated to share the information with Tesla — but one would hope they do to avoid any tragic vehicle compromises in the future.

Tesla has also recently teamed up with BMW to make a push for more electric vehicles in the future.