Inaugural Pwn2Own Automotive Contest Dangles $1M for Car Hackers

The Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) has announced that more than $1 million will be offered in cash and prizes at the first Pwn2Own hacking contest that focuses on car systems — Pwn2Own Automotive.

The competition will have four categories: all things Tesla, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), electrical vehicle chargers, and, lastly, operating systems. It will be hosted in Tokyo on Jan. 24-26 of next year.

In a blog post, ZDI's Brian Gorenc laid out three primary goals for hosting the event: 1) the competition will "provide an avenue to encourage automotive research"; 2) it will "incentivize vendors to participate in the security research community"; and 3) it will "bring a focus to the sub-components of a vehicle."

The competition will also allow for remote participation, and all vying contestants will need to register before the deadline — Jan. 18 — and submit a detailed whitepaper "explaining your exploit chain and instructions on how to run the entry by the end of the registration period." Remote applicants will need to contact ZDI officials at least two weeks prior to the application deadline.

Interested security researchers can find detailed information regarding each category of the competition and a full set of rules on the ZDI website.