Hundreds of Tesla Powerwall Backup Gateways may have been exposed to remote hacker attacks from the internet, but Tesla says it has taken steps to reduce risks.
Tesla Powerwall is an energy storage product for homes that uses a battery to store power from solar panels or the grid, ensuring that users continue to have power even during an outage. The Backup Gateway component of the product is designed to provide energy management and monitoring and it’s responsible for controlling the connection to the power grid, detecting outages, and switching to backup power.
In the past, at least two research groups analyzed the product, including various undocumented API calls to the Backup Gateway and potential vulnerabilities. Members of the veteran security research group The Hacker's Choice revealed earlier this year that a remote attacker could cause damage due to the fact that the Gateway, which is often connected to the internet via Wi-Fi, had an improperly protected management interface.
An attacker who gained access to the management interface could have taken control of the process for charging the battery from the power grid and dumping the battery’s charge back into the grid. By forcing the battery to charge from the grid at times of day when power is more expensive and unloading the charge when electricity is cheaper, the attacker could have caused financial damage.
Researchers also warned at the time that by quickly switching between charging and dumping, an attacker could have caused damage to the Powerwall device and possibly even the electrical subs ..
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