Tesla says data breach affecting over 75,000 people was “insider wrongdoing”

The data breach in May at Tesla Inc. impacted more than 75,000 people, and included employee-related records and was a result of “insider wrongdoing,” according to a notice posted by the office of the Maine Attorney General Friday.

The total number of people that were affected by this was 75,735, including nine residents of Maine. The people appear to be current or former employees of the Austin, Texas-based automaker.

According to a copy of an Aug. 18 letter by Tesla to those impacted that accompanied the data breach notification, a foreign media outlet (named Handelsblatt) informed Tesla on May 10, 2023 that it had obtained Tesla confidential information.

“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 notification added.

The letter also goes on to mention that Tesla filed lawsuits against the two former employees, without specifying in which jurisdiction. The lawsuits led to the seizure of electronic devices that were believed to have contained company information, according to the letter.

The company also revealed with the letter that: “Tesla also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data, subject to criminal penalties. Tesla cooperated with law enforcement and external forensics experts and will continue to take appropriate steps as necessary.”