Elon Musk Says Chinese Hack Not a Real Threat to Tesla

Two days after Chinese hackers reported they’d figured out a way to hack a Tesla S, Elon Musk took to Twitter to defuse owner’s fears.

“We pwned Tesla Model S remotely (no physical contact) with a complex exploit chain,” Keen Lab wrote on Twitter Monday. “All details reported to Tesla.”

According to Musk’s tweet on Thursday, the security threats have been patched. “Also, only worked if you logged on to a malicious hotspot & used browser. No customers were hacked,” Musk tweeted.

The hack happened the same day the Federal Automated Vehicle Policy released a new set of cybersecurity guidelines for self-driving vehicles, but there have been no known hacks on current Tesla owners.

Earlier this month, a hacker in North Carolina managed to get footage from the Autopilot camera of a crashed Tesla.

Musk’s decision to address the hack in such an off-handed way on the day the v.08 of Tesla autopilot was released seems to indicate that the company is confident that customers can feel safe from any system compromises.

However, the FBI has expressed concerns over the future of hacking self-driving cars and is starting to explore potential solutions with state lawmakers.