Tesla blames “insider wrongdoing” for a data breach that happened in May.
The so-called “Tesla files”, which German publication Handelsblatt reported on back in May when covering the company’s major data breach, contained 100 gigabytes of confidential information. The approximately 23,000 files contained the names of current and former employees as well as their contact information and addresses, Tesla told Maine’s Attorney General Office August 18.
According to the notification, those two employees leaked the data to the outlet, who then told the carmaker it received the information, but would not go through with publishing any specific information to the public, beyond the breach itself.
In notifying its staff, Tesla revealed that 75,735 people were affected by this data breach. “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 company has since identified and taken legal action against the two former employees. That litigation resulted in the seizure of electronic devices thought to hold the sensitive information, while Tesla also said it secured court orders to prevent those responsible from further disseminating the data to other parties.
This news comes after reports circulated in April of Tesla employees sharing customer information, including camera footage, through internal messaging systems.
