The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) expands Pwn2Own competition as threats to connected cars continue to grow. Trend Micro runs the hacking competition, which specifically targets the automotive industry and hacking teams to promote security research.
Trend Micro, one of the world's leading providers of cybersecurity solutions, is expanding its Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) Pwn2Own hacking competition with another event. Under the name "Pwn2Own Automotive", there will be an independent competition for the first time at the Automotive World Tokyo in January 2024 on the cyber security of networked vehicles. The aim is to make the connected car ecosystem, which is increasingly becoming the target of cyber attacks, more secure.
The Pwn2Own competition has existed for 17 years. Security researchers from around the world come together for the hacking events to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used devices and applications - before they fall victim to cybercriminals.
Pwn2Own Automotive pursues three goals
- Promoting safety research in the automotive sector by supporting scientists, including financially, in the study of different products and platforms.
- Complete attack surface screening by prioritizing critical technologies as the subject of research.
- Incentives for the discovery of sophisticated and complex threats by offering higher rewards for multi-system attacks.
Vehicle systems have played an increasingly important role in the Pwn2Own hacking competition in recent years, notably with Tesla's regular participation since 2019. Back then, a team of security researchers won the overall Master of Pwn award after successfully testing a Tesla model 3 had hacked.
In 2019 a Tesla was hacked
Last year, participants were able to demonstrate how to exploit two other zero-day vulnerabilities in the vehicle's infotainment system. Tesla will also be a sponsor of Pwn2023Own Vancouver in 2 and will again provide a Model 3 as a prize for successful participants.
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