In May this year, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla had a data breach. Last Friday, the US Attorney General’s Office of Maine issued a notice on Friday stating that the data breach affected more than 75,000 people, including records related to Tesla employees. The notice said the incident was the result of “internal wrongdoing”.
A total of 75,735 people were affected by the data breach, including nine residents of the US state of Maine, the notification said. These individuals all appear to be current or former Tesla employees.
Tesla wrote to affected users on August 18, “A media outlet called Handelsblatt notified Tesla on May 10, 2023 that it had obtained Tesla’s confidential information.” “The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees appropriated and shared this information with the media in violation of Tesla’s information technology security and data protection policies.”
The letter also noted that Tesla had filed a lawsuit against the two former employees, but did not specify in which jurisdiction. The lawsuit filed by the company resulted in the seizure of electronic devices believed to contain company information, the letter said.
“Tesla has also obtained a court order prohibiting any further use, access or dissemination of this data by these former employees, subject to criminal penalties,” the letter reads. “Tesla is cooperating with law enforcement and outside experts and will continue to take appropriate steps as necessary.”
Tesla data privacy officer Steven Elentukh did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Sunday.
