Hackers hijack Tesla system in bold cryptocurrency attack

Tesla has become the latest target of hackers attempting to “mine” cryptocurrency, according to cloud security company RedLock.

RedLock reports that hackers gained access to Tesla compute resources to carry out so-called “cryptojacking,” where computers are hijacked to mine cryptocurrencies. The mining process involves making compute power available to authenticate, for example, bitcoin transactions. The “miners” then receive a financial reward for making the systems available. Digital Trends has compared the mining process to being “a bitcoin bank teller.”

While individuals can opt to use their own PCs to mine cryptocurrency via specialist software, hackers have also been surreptitiously hijacking computers to steal compute power for the same purpose. They then reap the financial benefits of the cryptocurrency mining.

HACKERS INVADE YOUTUBE ADS TO MINE CRYPTOCURRENCY

By stealing compute resources, hackers avoid the energy costs of powering the systems that are doing the work.

The Tesla intrusion involved accessing a cloud system, according to RedLock. “In this case the hackers not only gained unauthorized access to non-public Tesla data, but were also stealing compute resources within Tesla’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment for cryptojacking,” RedLock said, in a statement. “The researchers immediately informed Tesla of its findings, and the vulnerabilities have already been addressed.”

Source: foxnews