Former Tesla Employees Leak Data From More Than 75,000 Individuals

Tesla often makes news for misbehaving drivers and how they use its technology, but now the automaker is the subject of a different story. Automotive News reported that a data breach impacted the company in May, affecting more than 75,000 people, and was the result of “insider wrongdoing.”

The breach impacted 75,735 current and former Tesla employees. Two former employees mishandled the information, and the data ended up with the German publication Handelsblatt. The automaker filed lawsuits against the employees, which included seizing electronics from the individuals. 

While serious, this breach likely won’t raise the same alarm bells within Tesla that a security vulnerability would, as in a breach caused by a hacker. It’s obviously less than ideal to have employees handing out sensitive data to news outlets, but the act isn’t the result of a systemic problem that could be exploited electronically. 

That said, Tesla has its share of vulnerabilities, including some that unlock paid services, such as its expensive semi-autonomous driving functions. Earlier this year, a team of researchers announced that it had found a simple “jailbreak” hack that unlocked paid features like connectivity services and more power from the electric motors. Even so, these sorts of hacks are unlikely to be useful to the end consumer, as Tesla can monitor and change vehicle functions remotely, making it difficult to fool the all-watching eye of Elon. 

[Image: Nadezda Murmakova via Shutterstock]

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from TheTruthAboutCars https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/cars/news-blog/former-tesla-employees-leak-data-from-more-than-75-000-individuals-44502472?utm_medium=auto&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=all_full