This Week in Tesla: Model 3 Hacked Using a Drone, Tesla Stops Accepting Bitcoin

Model 3 Hacked Using a Drone -

For years, Tesla has been participating in the Pwn2Own competition, offering large prizes for any "white hat" hacker that could find a security flaw in their cars. Although the competition was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, one group still released their findings:

“Security researchers Ralf-Philipp Weinmann of Kunnamon, Inc. and Benedikt Schmotzle of Comsecuris GmbH have found remote zero-click security vulnerabilities in an open-source software component (ConnMan) used in Tesla automobiles that allowed them to compromise parked cars and control their infotainment systems over WiFi. It would be possible for an attacker to unlock the doors and trunk, change seat positions, both steering and acceleration modes – in short, pretty much what a driver pressing various buttons on the console can do. This attack does not yield drive control of the car though. Named “TBONE”, these exploits were originally written for the PWN2OWN 2020 contest, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.”

The fact that the hack could be administered via a drone is key, because it makes it much more feasible as a drone could just be flown over a supercharger and cars could be attacked. Luckily, no Tesla owners have to worry about their car being targeted, as a patch was sent out months ago.

Tesla Stops Accepting Bitcoin -

Only a few weeks ago, Tesla started accepting Bitcoin as payment for a car. Recently, they stopped, citing environmental concerns over the mining of bitcoin. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Tesla’s reasoning behind the move. Bitcoin mining is extremely power intensive and is often done using cheaper, less sustainable energy sources. The announcement sent Bitcoin’s price tumbling, losing $100 billion of market cap in just a few hours after Tesla’s announcement. The move did not just affect Bitcoin’s price, it affected the entire crypto market, with some estimating the losses to be as high as $365 billion. This move also harms Tesla financially, as the company owns around $1 billion of Bitcoin.