The US electric vehicle maker in 2019 made headlines when it made its mid-range Model 3 RWD a target and Prize at a Pwn2Own hacking competition. A couple of hackers were able to find a vulnerability in the browser of Model 3, which allowed them to earn the vehicle and more than $350,000 worth of prize money. This year, Tesla is returning the event on Mar. with a more secure Tesla Model 3 and a bigger cash reward.
For this year's pawn2Own hacking competition, Tesla is offering three tiers of prizes for hackers who could find vulnerabilities in the Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle. The tier 1 prize, which is the highest, would require hackers to pivot through multiple systems in the Model 3 to find vulnerabilities. If they are successful, they will earn Tesla Model 3 and a cash prize of $500,000.
Contestants can also get extra options to increase the amount of cash prize to $700,000. Tesla's challenge this year is extremely difficult, explained a spokesperson from Trend Micro ZDI to Forbes. This stands for the single largest target in the history of Pwn2Own. If someone could do this, it would equate to 70 total Master of Pwn points, which is almost insurmountable, the spokesperson added.
Tesla was included because the company pioneered the idea of a connected car and over the air updates for the whole range of its fleet almost ten years ago. Since then, the US electric vehicle maker has been leading the space, said the spokesperson. Just like in 2019, Tesla is the only auto company willing to test its electric vehicles' security against the best hackers in the world at the upcoming Pwn2Own hacking event along with other tech companies.
Microsoft's Edge, Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari, and Mozilla's Firefox web browsers, for instance, are all targets in this year's Web Browser category. Microsoft's Office 365 Plus and Adobe Reader are the targets for the event's Enterprise Applications category. Tesla is regarded by many as an electric vehicle company, but more than that, it is a tech firm.
This distinction is something that the US electric vehicle maker had emphasized since 2014 during the time when the company broke through barriers by releasing its Bug Bounty Program. By doing this, Tesla essentially invited hackers to find security faults on its fleet of electric vehicles. The forthcoming Pwn2Owv hacking competition is scheduled between Mar. 18 and Mar. 20 and will be held at the CanSecWest conference.
