The Tesla data leak affected 75.7 thousand people, organized by former employees of the company
Tesla’s data leak earlier this year affected more than 75 thousand people and was caused by “illegal insider actions.” This is reported by Engadget with reference to the information of the Attorney General of Maine (USA).
In total, we are talking about 75,735 thousand victims. Probably all of them are current or former Tesla employees.
“While we have not identified evidence of misuse of the data in a manner that may cause harm to you, we are nonetheless providing you with this notice to ensure that you are aware of what happened and the measures we have taken,” the company wrote in a letter to employees.
The breach occurred in May, when German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that it had received 100 GB of data from “several informants” at Tesla. The data contained 2.4 thousand reports of problems with self-acceleration and 1.5 thousand cases of problems with the braking system in cars, including 139 complaints about unintentional emergency braking and 383 cases of phantom stops due to false collision warnings.
In a letter from the employees, Tesla provided more information about the incident, confirming the date of the breach and that Handelsblatt had received confidential information from Tesla.
“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 says.
The data also included employee names and contact information, including physical addresses, email addresses, and cell phone numbers.
“The outlet has stated that it does not intend to publish the personal information, and in any event, is legally prohibited from using it inappropriately,” Tesla stated.
The company added that it has obtained court orders prohibiting former employees from further using, accessing, or disseminating this data.
Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into Tesla’s phantom braking problem following complaints from owners. And in August 2022, it was reported that Tesla was facing a class action lawsuit over the same issue.