Tesla data breach: 75,000 employees affected by internal breach

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【Summary】Tesla has admitted that a data breach affecting over 75,000 employees was carried out by insiders who leaked personal information to a foreign media outlet. The breach involved the disclosure of names, contact information, employment records, and Social Security numbers. Tesla has taken legal action against the former employees and obtained court orders to prevent further use or dissemination of the data. The media outlet claims it will not publish the information.

FutureCar Staff Aug 23, 2023 6:30 AM PT

Tesla data breach: 75,000 employees affected by internal breach

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has confirmed that a data breach affecting over 75,000 employees was carried out by insiders within the company. The electric car manufacturer disclosed in a data breach notice to the attorney general of Maine that an internal investigation revealed two former employees leaked the personal information of more than 75,000 individuals to a foreign media outlet.

Steven Elentukh, Tesla's data privacy officer, stated, "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."

The leaked personal information included data related to current and former employees, such as names, contact information (such as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses), employment records, and Social Security numbers. A foreign media outlet named Handelsblatt informed Tesla on May 10, 2023, that it had obtained confidential information from the company.

Tesla assured that Handelsblatt has stated it does not intend to publish the personal information and is legally prohibited from using it inappropriately. The company took immediate action to contain the incident, assess the extent of the breach, and safeguard the affected information.

To address the breach, Tesla identified the two former employees responsible and filed lawsuits against them. As a result, the company was able to seize the electronic devices of these individuals, which were believed to contain the leaked Tesla information. Tesla also obtained court orders to prevent the former employees from further using, accessing, or disseminating the data, under the threat of criminal penalties.

In May, Handelsblatt reported a "massive" breach at Tesla, which exposed various confidential information, including personal details of employees and customer complaints about their cars. The publication claimed to have obtained over 23,000 internal documents, collectively known as the "Tesla Files," amounting to 100 gigabytes of data. Notably, the leak also included Elon Musk's Social Security number.