Tesla has officially started its bug hunting program, inviting hackers to find loopholes in its website and win cash prizes of between $25 and $1,000, but there is no such program for its vehicle yet, says a report from Forbes. The security community applauded the step taken by Tesla CEO Elon Musk for exhibiting a willingness to work with benevolent hackers. Though there was already a disorganized bug bounty program, now a more formal process has been chosen.
Tesla offering small prize money
The excerpt from Tesla’s Bugcrowd page stated that the company is committed to working with the community to verify, reproduce and provide solutions to reported issues. It further stated, “We encourage the community to participate in our responsible reporting process.”
Contributors who come across issues can report it on tesla.com and should allow the company “reasonable time” to correct the issue before making the information public. Tesla also furnished a list of what kinds of issues cannot be reported and the smaller issues that should be.
Also, compared to the prize money fixed by Facebook and Google, Tesla’s is quiet small. Tech firms like Facebook and Google have awarded prizes as high as $33,000 and $22,000 for similar programs. However, Tesla is not a web major like the other two companies.
No such program for hunting a car bug
Those who find any glitch in a Tesla vehicle should report the issue at [email protected] rather than visiting the Bugcrowd platform, according to the firm. However, there is almost nothing about the reward if anyone finds a bug in cars or other products such as its super battery.
Until now, the Palo Alto-based company has fixed issues with its vehicle without giving any notice on the site to credit researchers such as PUBLIC RECORD and Chinese giant Qihoo 360. According to Forbes, none of the researchers were awarded, but Qihoo was awarded $10,000 for winning a non-official competition to hack a Tesla.
A reward program for the vehicles will be a major step for Tesla and the EV industry. However, prominent players are keen to shut down digital security issues even though researchers have been underlining the flaws in cars for some time now. A majority of car manufacturers do not want anyone to fiddle with their car.
