Tesla (TSLA) reveals May data breach was an inside job

Electric vehicle giant, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) filed a data breach notification with Maine’s attorney general on Friday notifying authorities that an investigation into a data breach that occurred in May found that two employees were responsible for the incident.

According to the notification, the “Insider wrongdoing” when the two employees sent personally identifying information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, employment-related records, and Social Security numbers belonging to 75,735 current and former employees with German newspaper Handelsblatt. The news outlet assured Tesla that it wouldn’t publish the information and that it is “legally prohibited from using it inappropriately.”

“The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet,” wrote Tesla’s data officer, Steven Elentukh.

Tesla identified and filed lawsuits against the two former employees over the cyber breach.

Handelsblatt reported the incident in May, revealing that Tesla had been hit by a “massive” breach. The news outlet managed to acquire over 23,000 internal records, labeled as the "Tesla Files," which encompassed a staggering 100 gigabytes of sensitive information. Within this trove were employees' private particulars, customer banking information, proprietary manufacturing insights, and complaints from customers regarding Tesla's Full Self Driving (FSD) capabilities.

Tesla is extending a gesture of support to those impacted by providing them with a restricted, free membership to Experian's IdentityWorks. It's essential for individuals to ensure they register before the designated company-provided codes become invalid, which is set to occur on November 30, 2023.

Shares of TSLA are up 6.05% in mid-day trading Monday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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