Tesla data breach blamed on ‘Insider wrongdoing’ impacted 75,000

Tesla Inc.’s May data breach impacted more than 75,000 people, included employee-related records and was a result of “insider wrongdoing,” according to a notice posted by the office of the Maine Attorney General Friday.

A total of 75,735 people were affected by the data breach, including nine residents of Maine. The people appear to be current or former employees of the Austin, Texas-based automaker.

“A foreign media outlet (named Handelsblatt) informed Tesla on May 10, 2023 that it had obtained Tesla confidential information,” according to a copy of an Aug. 18 letter by Tesla to those impacted that accompanied the data breach notification. “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 letter goes on to state that Tesla filed lawsuits against the two former employees, without specifying in which jurisdiction. The lawsuits led to the seizure of electronic devices that were believed to have contained company information, according to the letter.

“Tesla also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data, subject to criminal penalties,” the letter stated. “Tesla cooperated with law enforcement and external forensics experts and will continue to take appropriate steps as necessary.”

Steven Elentukh, Tesla’s data privacy officer, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.