Crashing Teslas: No Dark Web Inputs Needed
June 21, 2019
Do you want to interfere with a Tesla’s electronics? You don’t need to prowl the Regular Web for hacking forums. You don’t need to fire up Tor and visit Dark Web sites. A quick search of Bing and Google delivers a link to “Tesla Model 3 Spoofed Off the Highway.” The information in the write up is a summary of an experiment. DarkCyber understands that.
The products and methods disclosed in the write up will make it easier for some vendors of intelligent driver assistant systems to improve their products. The publicity generated by the listing of the off-the-shelf products used in this experiment will benefit the manufacturers. DarkCyber anticipates a spate of high school science fair projects which present the results of potential engineers’ experiments.
We learned in the write up:
Yonatan Zur, Regulus Cyber CEO and Co-Founder, emphasized this goes way beyond Regulus Cyber and Tesla: “We designed a product to protect vehicles from GNSS spoofing because we believe it is a real threat. We have ongoing research regarding this threat as we believe it’s an issue that needs solving. These new semi-autonomous features offered on new cars place drivers at risk and provides us with a dangerous glimpse of our future as passengers in driverless cars. By reporting and sharing incidents such as this we can ensure the autonomous technology will be safe and trustworthy. “
The purpose of the research is to inform people about vulnerabilities and to boost sales of Regulus anti-spoofing technology. The company will provide a curious person with a free research summary — in exchange for an email address.
DarkCyber is not sure whether to thank Regulus for making the vulnerabilities of autonomous technology to hacks and spoofs or whether to suggest the firm a less sensational way to publicize the results of their experiments.
If you own a Tesla or other vehicle with certain types of assist mechanisms, those systems may be vulnerable. Bad actors and frisky high school science club students are likely to do some experimenting.
Will Regulus’ research results have the sales impact the company wants? Will other impacts be observable? Have US government oversight agencies pursued similar research into security and safety issues for smart vehicles?
Tough questions to answer.
Stephen E Arnold, June 21, 2019
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