Tesla courts hackers to defend high-tech cars

Hackers swarmed a Tesla sedan in a 'hacking village' at the infamous Def Con conference on Saturday as the high-tech electric car maker recruited talent to protect against cyber attacks.

It was the second year in a row the California-based company was at the world's largest gathering of hackers in Las Vegas. “Hackers are a crowd that is really important to us,” Tesla's Khobi Brooklyn told AFP while Def Con attendees took turns inside a black Model S sedan parked inside a casino convention area. “It is a community that we want to be part of, and collaborate with, as well as recruit from.”

Tesla recruiters were on hand, along with members of the California-based company's security team. Tesla cars are highly computerized. New features as well as software updates are pushed out to vehicles over wireless Internet connections. “They are not messing with our software,” Brooklyn said with only a hint of hesitation. She knew of no cyber attacks aimed at Tesla cars, at Def Con or anywhere else. Tesla has worked with Lookout Mobile Security to find and patch software vulnerabilities in sedans, according to Brooklyn.

Read more at Phys.org

Image Credit: Tesla

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