Hello,

A Belgian security researcher has just released the details of how he successfully hacked into a Tesla Model X car. The attack, which only takes a few minutes to execute was carried out by Lennert Wouters, a PhD student at the COSIC group at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium.

Here is how the attack works:

  • The attacker gets within 5 metres of your Tesla keyfob. They could walk past you in the park or sit on the bench next to you or stand at the front door of your house in order to get in range. Most people will either have the key fob in their pocket or on the table in their hallway so getting in range won’t be a problem.
  • Once in range the attacker remotely connects to the key fob using inexpensive equipment.
  • Once connected the attacker pushes malicious software to the key fob which allows them to extract the car unlock codes.
  • They use these codes to open the door and access your car.
  • Once inside the attacker connects to the car’s diagnostics centre and replaces your original keyfob with their own keyfob.
  • They use this new keyfob to start the car and drive away.

Tesla has now fixed the issue and began rolling out software update to all its Model X cars this week. If you have a Tesla you want to make sure that you are running version 2020.48.

Please let me know if you need anymore information.

Have a good day.

Max Roberts,
Incognito Privacy Care Team