Your Tesla is probably vulnerable to hackers, but there’s an easy fix

Hackers can likely quickly and easily steal your Tesla Model S, but this high-tech heist comes with a catch: There’s a simple way to prevent it. 

Researchers claim to have found a method to essentially clone the wireless key fobs Tesla owners use to unlock and start their cars — thus allowing them to drive away with your ride — with only around $600 worth of equipment. Oh yeah, and the encryption built into the keys as a protection against this very attack barely even offers a speed bump.

So reports Wired, which notes that the researchers in question are from the KU Leuven university in Belgium. They are set to present an explanation of the attack at the Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems conference in Amsterdam, but you don’t have to wait until then to see it. 

A video uploaded to YouTube shows the hack in action, and it calls to mind the relay attack that has thieves amplifying a legitimate signal from a key fob to unlock and start a victim’s car. 

The Tesla hack in question is a little more complicated than that, however, and involved researchers essentially reverse engineering the Tesla Model S keyless entry system.

“Today it’s very easy for us to clone these key fobs in a matter of seconds,” researcher Lennert Wouters told Wired. “We can completely impersonate the key fob and open and drive the vehicle.”

Notably, Tesla claims that cars sold after June of 2018 aren’t susceptible to being stolen by this technique, but that still leaves a lot of vulnerable vehicles that are. 

Thankfully, however, there’s an easy way to secure your fancy ride: Turn on your PIN. According to TechGuide, Tesla just pushed a software update for the Model S that allows owners to set a 4-digit passcode that must be entered before the car can be driven. With that PIN protection enabled, your car would theoretically be protected from the hack shown above.  

While having to enter a code every time you drive your fancy ride may be a pain, it’s a lot less annoying than having to file a police report for a stole vehicle. So go ahead a turn it on, and sleep a little easier knowing your cutting-edge ride is protected by a technology more associated with your corner-store ATM than the future.