Tesla’s cloud system has been hijacked by hackers who use it to mine cryptocurrency.
The hackers managed to penetrate the automotive company’s Kubernetes console because it was not password protected, said the RedLock Cyber Security Company. Kubernetes is a system designed to optimize cloud computing.
This has left Tesla’s unsecured Amazon Web Services (AWS) software and hackers have released software called Stratum to use cloud computing power to mine, CNBC reported.
The yield of cryptocurrencies is a process in which the miners solve complex mathematical problems to validate a transaction and add it to the core network, also known as Blockchain.
RedLock does not specify which encryption was extracted from the violation.
The company, however, says that other companies – such as the British insurer Aviva and the Dutch manufacturer – Gemalto SIM cards – have been affected by similar problems. But the incident affecting Tesla’s cloud system was more complicated and hackers used a number of different strategies to avoid being detected.
The cyber security company immediately alerted Tesla to the cyber attack and it was discontinued after the appropriate measures had been taken.
Ilon Musk’s car company said they did not find the attack to have compromised the data of their users or the safety of the manufactured vehicles.