Elon Musk has confirmed Tesla will finally be adding two-factor authentication (2FA) to its customer accounts.
Tesla 2FA
Musk made this assertion on Twitter over the weekend, admitting that this added security measure is “embarrassingly late.”
The CEO also revealed that 2FA will be available via SMS and authentiticator. While he didn’t provide a timeline, he did say that 2FA was currently in the late stages of being validated.
“Sorry, this is embarrassingly late,” Musk said in the tweet. “Two factor authentication via sms or authenticator app is going through final validation right now.”
Sorry, this is embarrassingly late. Two factor authentication via sms or authenticator app is going through final validation right now.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2020
In November 2019 Musk also said on Twitter on 2Fa was “coming” soon” after sound foundational upgrades to the core operating system.
Fair point. Coming soon. We’re making foundational upgrades to the core Tesla corporate OS. 2FA right after that.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2019
App Issues
Tesla 2FA is certainly an important step in ensuring modern security of such expensive vehicles – especially considering how much of it can be controlled from the Tesla phone app.
While Tesla’s do have a robust set of cameras, as well as GPS tracking, more attention needs to be paid to the app. While pin-code entry is an option that was introduced in 2018, it doesn’t really seem like enough.
This isn’t the first sign that the Tesla app needs work in 2020. Back in January some users discovered that they had been billed for expensive software upgrades they have no recollection of purchasing. According to Tesla customer service representatives, these upgrades were final and could not be removed from the cars once purchased.
This happened roughly a month after one-click software upgrades were added to the app, making it very easy to upgrade ones vehicle, and credit card bill.
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