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White hat hackers win big at inaugural Pwn2own Automotive event

Participants in the vehicle-based hackathon took home more than US$1 million in prizes after finding a raft of bugs.

user icon David Hollingworth
Mon, 29 Jan 2024
White hat hackers win big at inaugural Pwn2own Automotive event
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The first Pwn2Own Automotive event kicked off last week, running over three days from 23 to 25 January.

The event took place as part of the Automotive World conference in Tokyo, after being just one part of the broader Pwn2Own event, which has run since 2007.

Alarmingly, those competing in the event found a lot of bugs. On day one alone, flaws were found in Automotive Grade Linux OS, the Alpine Halo9 iLX-F509 AV receiver, and the modem that comes in your shiny new Tesla – and that’s just scratching the surface.

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The second day saw hackers uncover flaws in the ChargePoint Home Flex charging system, the Phoenix Contact CHARX SEC-3100 charging controller, and the JuiceBox 40 Smart EV Charging Station – again, just the tip of the iceberg.

On the final day, the ChargePoint Home Flex got done in again, alongside the Pioneer DMH-WT7600NEX AV receiver.

Hackers and hacking teams received points for each successful hack, rated on the skill involved and the nature of the exploit found. The Synacktiv team came away as the overall winner, scoring 50 points throughout the event and earning prize money totalling US$450,000.

All up, US$1,323,750 was awarded to teams and individual entrants, who managed to find 49 previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities.

You can learn more about the event at www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog.

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.

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