Tesla Data Breach Which Affected 75,000 Confirmed to be Inside Job

Tesla has disclosed a data breach impacting around 75,000 people - but the incident has been confirmed as a whistleblower leak rather than a cyberattack. 

The American automotive company, led by Elon Musk, told US authorities that a breach discovered back in May resulted in the leaking of over 75,000 peoples' personal data. 

Among the data leak is said to be around 100Gb of bank details and social security numbers of current and former employees, as well as production secrets and even customer complaints. 

A public notification letter published on the Government website details how the breach is the result of former Tesla employees sending confidential information to German media outlet Handelsblatt. 

Tesla have said the ex-workers "misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies".

That being said, experts familiar with the case say that the odds of the exposed data being misused are slim. 

Tesla, whose lawyer described the leaker as a “disgruntled former employee” when the leak came to light, has filed lawsuits against the employees responsible for the data breach. 

“These lawsuits resulted in the seizure of the former employees’ electronic devices that were believed to have contained the Tesla information. Tesla also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data, subject to criminal penalties,” the carmaker explained in its recent breach notification.