Running head: ADVERSARIAL THREAT ASSESSMENT 1

Adversarial Threat Assessment on Tesla, Inc.

Jessica Romio

University of San Diego

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Adversarial Threat Assessment on Tesla, Inc.

“Electric vehicles are the technology of choice for eco-friendly car buyers because they

have no emissions tied to their operation; they can be powered with clean, renewable energy; and

even when charged with power from nonrenewable sources, the inherent fuel efficiency of

electric motors versus internal combustion engines means they release less carbon per mile

(when similar vehicles are compared)” (Cars.com, n.d.). Electric cars are more efficient and

usually cost less per mile than gas powered cars. Because of that, they have become extremely

popular. One major competitor of ours in the electric vehicle segment is Tesla, Inc. They

specialize in electric vehicle manufacturing, as well as battery storage. In 2019, Tesla was ranked

the world’s best-selling electric passenger car manufacturer. Tesla “sold around 83,875 vehicles

in the US between January and June, InsideEVs estimated, over 10 times the number of vehicles

sold by General Motors, which came in second in the rankings” (Matousek, 2019). They sell

more electric models than most manufacturers and their Model 3 sedan outsold every other

vehicle by at least 750%. This makes them our biggest competitor in the market.

Tesla has a leadership team made up of many individuals, their most famous being Elon

Reeve Musk who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director. Other notable individuals

within the company include Zachary Kirkhorn who is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO),

Vaibhav Taneja who is the Chief Accounting Officer (CAO), Jerome Guillen who is the

President-Automotive Division, and Andrew Baglino who is the Senior Vice President (SVP) –

Powertrain & Energy Engineering (Wall Street Journal, 2020). Baglino has taken over the

responsibilities of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) when longtime CTO, JB Straubel

transitioned to a different role (O'Kane, 2019). Nagesh Saldi is the Chief Information Officer
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(CIO). It is worth noting that Tesla seems to have a relatively high turnover rate of C-level

executives and they do not often quickly replace vacated positions.

Since our company is a producer of passenger electric vehicles, Tesla with their high

performance in the market, is our direct competitor. They produce the most popular electric

vehicle on the market, the Tesla Model 3. This vehicle saw 67,650 sales through June 2019

(Matousek, 2019). Not only do they directly compete with our market in electric vehicles, but

they also create solar panels and battery storage, which we do not produce. This means that our

customers who may choose us as a manufacturer of their electric vehicle, still may go to our

competitor, Tesla, for battery storage and solar energy. This creates a larger problem since it may

make sense to the consumer to simply purchase all three products from Tesla itself.

At close 4:00 PM EDT on 07/17/20, Tesla Stock Quote is at 1500.84 USD and up 0.20

(+.0.01%) (Wall Street Journal, 2020). Their sales growth has been 14.52% in 2019 and they

have been on a rising 5-year trend. Tesla as a company went public approximately ten years ago,

on June 29th, 2010. “The company raised around $226 million in its IPO, with shares surging that

day by around 41% to close at $23.89. Today, shares in the electric vehicle maker closed at

$1,009.35, meaning Tesla’s stock has risen by 4,125 % since the close of its first day as a public

company” (Kolodny, 2020). The company has had shares rising since early 2020 with its factory

in Shanghai now running, as well as the promise of an electric semi-truck. Even with the

company having to shut down production for several weeks in California due to COVID, shares

are still up more than 140%.

Tesla is absolutely bringing disruptive technology to the workplace. They have

consistently branched out to work on other products outside of electric vehicles, and I have no

doubt that they will continue to do so. These are products that our vehicles rely on, products like
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batteries, battery storage, and solar energy. Because electric vehicles are so reliant on computers

and security, I think it would be very beneficial to conduct an attack and see where our vehicles

may be more secure than theirs. Although it would be costly and time consuming, we do have

security engineers who we could use to perform the attack without too much of an added expense

to us. They already perform research for the security of our vehicles and would simply use their

offensive security knowledge on the Tesla vehicles.

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References

Cars.com. (n.d.). Electric Cars. Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.cars.com/electric-

cars/

Kolodny, L. (2020, June 30). Tesla stock is up more than 4000% since its debut 10 years ago.

Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/tesla-stock-up-

4125percent-since-ipo-ten-years-ago.html

Matousek, M. (2019, July 14). The 10 best-selling electric vehicles in the US this year so far.

Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-electric-

vehicles-united-states-so-far-2019-2019-7

O'Kane, S. (2019, July 24). Tesla's longtime CTO is stepping down. Retrieved July 18, 2020,

from https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/24/20726728/tesla-jb-straubel-cto-is-stepping-

down

Wall Street Journal. (2020, July 18). TSLA | Tesla Inc. Company Profile & Executives - WSJ.

Retrieved July 18, 2020, from https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/TSLA/