日前，《福布斯》的一篇特别报道指出，在下周举行的SyScan360上优异的安全专家汇聚中国北京，并参加全球首个智能汽车破解挑战赛，赏金为1万美元。而安全专家们破解的对象正是风头正劲的特斯拉!
特斯拉的一位发言人告诉《福布斯》的记者，他们并不直接参与到比赛中，但他们希望能通过这样的比赛在智能汽车的安全问题上有所发现。
《福布斯》的报道指出，SyScan360这样级别的安全大会有望推动未来高科技汽车安全问题的研究，尤其是那些依赖软件联网和自动化程度高的汽车。
此前已经有公开的媒体报道显示，国外有安全研究人员曾成功控制过福特和丰田汽车，包括打开刹车，摇晃方向盘等。目前，汽车制造商已意识到车联网安全的重要性，特别是一旦发生网络攻击时，将带来直接的现实破坏，而这才是真正可怕的事。
福布斯专栏报道如下：
$10,000 Is OnOffer For Anyone Who Can Hack A Tesla Car
Security expertswill be competing to hack a car for a $10,000 prize next week. It’s no ordinarycar, though. It’s a Tesla Model S, the famous electric supercar brought to lifeby Elon Musk and his whizz-kid mechanics. And this might just be the first everopen competition to hack a car.
Anyone who registersfor the SyScan conference taking place in Beijing from 16-17 July can enter thecompetition. The organizers told me there will be a Tesla and some computers onsite, though they aren’t giving much away on the rules. They gave me sometantalizing examples of what they expect to see from the eventual winner though,including controlling a Tesla from a PC or making the in-dash browser inside thecar visit specified websites, presumably to see whether malware infection couldbe possible in the vehicle.
Tesla Motors TSLA-1.6% already has a good rep when it comes to security. It has a fullvulnerability disclosure program, which makes it easy to report any flaws in itscars. It also employed ex-Apple AAPL -0.37% security boffin Kristin Paget tobring high-quality digital safety to drivers.
Yet a spokespersonfrom Tesla told me it wasn’t involved in the competition, nor is the contestsupported by manufacturer. One hopes the researchers who successfully hack thecar will at least pass on their findings to Tesla.
Regardless, the carmaker has recognized where the world is at when it comes to Internet of Thingssecurity: the potential for digital attacks to cause real-world damage has onlyrisen in recent years. As Forbes reported last year, DARPA-funded researchersare being paid to hack cars and they’re succeeding. Researchers Charlie Millerand Chris Valasek managed to take control of Ford and Toyota cars to turn on thebrakes and jolt the steering wheel. It was genuinely scarystuff.
Competitions likethe one at SyScan should at least spur the research world on to protect the carsof the future, which will be internet-connected, software reliant andincreasingly automated. With the right approach, hopefully the world won’t seeany tragic compromises of automobiles in the future.
