Earlier this year a leak of more than 100GB of Tesla’s internal data was shared with German newspaper Handelsblatt, and now the electric carmaker is accusing two former employees.
As reported by Tech Crunch, Tesla has said in a data breach notice filed with Maine’s attorney-general that an investigation found two former employees leaked more than 75,000 employees’ personal 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,” said Tesla data privacy officer Steven Elentukh in the notice.
Tesla claims to have filed lawsuits against the employees who were allegedly responsible for the data breach, which resulted in the seizure of the employees’ electronic devices.
“Tesla also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data, subject to criminal penalties,” said Mr Elentukh in the notice.
The leaked information included the names, addresses, phone numbers, employment-related records and Social Security numbers belonging to 75,735 current and former Tesla employees.
It also reportedly included an internal report, dated January 25, 2022, that revealed a pre-production “alpha” version of the Tesla Cybertruck was still struggling with issues surround its body sealing, noise levels, handling, suspension, and braking.
Given this internal reported detailed an early prototype from over 18 months ago and Tesla has significant financial resources, it’s quite likely many, perhaps all, of these key issues have been addressed.
Cybetruck prototype
The wild-looking Tesla Cybertruck was first revealed in concept form in 2019 and has been repeatedly delayed since then. The latest word from Tesla is it’s on track to enter production later this year, with mass production beginning in 2024.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently told investors a “hand over” for the first deliveries is planned for the third quarter of 2023.
It’s expected the brand will confirm final pricing and specifications close to that date.
MORE: Tesla Cybertruck: Leaked report reveals alleged engineering flaws
