Tesla is hacked by researchers but makes fixes

Not even autos innovator Tesla Motors Inc. is immune to hackers.

Two researchers said they were able to take control of a Tesla Model S by hacking into the car’s entertainment system.

When the car was cruising at less than 5 miles per hour or idling, the researchers were able to apply the emergency hand brake, bringing the car to an immediate stop.

At higher speeds, the Model S “gracefully” shut off its engine, allowing the driver to maintain control over steering and braking, according to a blog post written by one of the researchers, Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder and chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm Lookout.

The pair were also able to remotely lock and unlock the car, control the radio and touch screen displays, and open and close the trunk.

Tesla has developed a fix, which was already sent out to all Model S cars through an over-the-air software update, a spokeswoman said. These updates can be downloaded by the driver via Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

Mahaffey and Marc Rogers, principal security researcher at Web security company CloudFlare, hacked the vehicle over the course of a year.

They said they found six vulnerabilities in the car’s security system but emphasized that it was after having physical access to the Model S. The researchers said they took control of the car’s entertainment system after connecting their laptop to the car’s Ethernet cable. Then, they were able to access the systems remotely.

In the blog post, Mahaffey praised Tesla’s over-the-air update system and its isolation of the car’s entertainment system from the vehicle network. But he said the automaker needed to bolster individual system security. “Overall, I feel more secure driving in a Tesla Model S than any other connected car on the road,” he wrote.