Musk confirms Tesla Nevada factory was target of 'serious' cyberattack

Reuters

Published Aug 27, 2020 10:25PM ET

Updated Aug 27, 2020 10:55PM ET

(Reuters) - Elon Musk said on Thursday that Tesla Inc's (O:TSLA) factory in Nevada was a target of a "serious" cybersecurity attack, confirming a media report that claimed an employee of the company helped the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) thwart the attack.

News website Teslarati said https:// that the electric carmaker was the unnamed company in a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday about a Russian national's arrest, in connection with a planned attack on an unidentified company.

"This was a serious attack," Musk said in a tweet, in response to the Teslarati article.

The Justice Department said https:// that Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, a Russian national, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer by trying to recruit an employee to introduce a malware into a system.

The malware was aimed at extracting data from the network and then to threaten the company for ransom money, the statement said.

According to the Justice Department, Kriuchkov had promised the employee an incentive of $1 million upon introducing the malware into the system.