Tesla Reports Insider Wrongdoing Led to Data Breach Affecting 75,000 People
According to a notification on Maine’s Attorney General website, a Tesla data breach that occurred earlier this year and affected over 75,000 individuals was the result of “insider wrongdoing.” The majority of those impacted, approximately 75,735 people, were likely current or former Tesla employees. In a letter to employees, the company stated that although there is no evidence of the data being misused in a way that could harm them, they are still providing this notice to inform them about the incident and the precautions taken.
The breach occurred on May 10, when the German-language newspaper Handelsblatt reported that it obtained 100 GB of information from “several informants” at Tesla. The “Tesla Files” contained 23,000 internal files containing 2,400 reports of self-acceleration problems and 1,500 cases of braking performance problems. The latter included 139 complaints of unintended emergency braking and 383 phantom stops caused by false collision warning.
In the employee letter, Tesla provided more details about the case, confirming the May 10 date of the breach and that Handelsblatt had received Tesla’s confidential information. “The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and privacy policies and shared the information with the media.”
The data also included employee names and contact information, including physical addresses, email addresses and cell phone numbers. “The seller has indicated that it does not intend to publish personal information, and in any case it is prohibited by law to use it inappropriately,” Tesla said. It added that several lawsuits led to the seizure of devices believed to carry the data and that it had “obtained court orders prohibiting former employees from using, releasing or further disseminating the data.”
Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into Tesla’s phantom braking problem after owner complaints. And in August 2022, it was announced that Tesla is facing a class action lawsuit over the same issue.
