Musk confirms Tesla Nevada factory was the target of ‘serious’ cyber attacks

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said Thursday that Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) factory in Nevada was the target of a “serious” cybersecurity attack, confirming a media report claiming that an employee of the company the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) helped thwart the attack.

News website Teslarati said bit.ly/2D6C5N5 that the electric car manufacturer was the unnamed company in a statement issued by the US Department of Justice on Tuesday regarding the arrest of a Russian national, in connection with a planned attack on an unidentified company.

“This was a serious attack,” Musk said in a tweet, in response to Teslarati’s article.

The Justice Department told bit.ly/3b3tyH1 that Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, a Russian citizen, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to intentionally damage a protected computer by attempting to recruit an employee to enter malware. a system.

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

According to the Justice Department, Kriuchkov had promised the employee a $ 1 million incentive to introduce the malware into the system.

But the employee warned the FBI, who were successful in the attack, filed a complaint through the FBI’s Las Vegas Field Office.