On August 21, according to foreign media reports, Tesla stated that the massive data leak incident had exposed the personal information of over 75,000 individuals, attributing it to "internal misconduct."
In a notification sent to its employees, Tesla mentioned that the leaked "Tesla files" contained 100GB of confidential data, including names of employees and their contact details such as addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. This notification has been shared with the Attorney General's office in Maine. The leaked data also included approximately 2,400 complaints regarding sudden Tesla acceleration and an additional 1,500 complaints about brake issues.
In May of this year, international media reported that Tesla failed to adequately protect the data of its customers, employees, and business partners, leading to the leak. They had received thousands of complaints about the company's driver assistance system. Citing a whistleblower, the report highlighted 100GB of confidential data, encompassing information of over 100,000 former and current employees – even including the Social Security number of Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk.
At that time, the Data Protection Office in Brandenburg, where Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory is located, described the data breach as "massive." "To my knowledge, there hasn't been a breach of this magnitude before," said Dagmar Hartge, the Data Protection Officer of Brandenburg.
Another report mentioned that a copy of a letter sent by Tesla on August 18 to those affected by the breach revealed: "A foreign media outlet (German Business News) informed Tesla on May 10, 2023, that they had obtained confidential Tesla information. Investigations revealed that two former Tesla employees violated the company's IT security and data protection policies, stealing the information and sharing it with the media (German Business News)."
The letter further stated that Tesla has initiated legal action against these two ex-employees, though it did not specify in which jurisdiction. The letter explained that the lawsuit led to the confiscation of electronic devices from these former employees, which might contain company information. "Tesla also obtained a court order prohibiting these former employees from further using, accessing, or disseminating this data, or else they will face criminal penalties," the letter read. "Tesla has collaborated with law enforcement and external forensic experts and will continue to take the necessary and appropriate measures."
Worth noting, Tesla also experienced a data leak incident in April. Reports suggested that nine former Tesla employees revealed that, between 2019 and 2022, Tesla employees shared private videos and images captured by onboard cameras via the internal messaging system.
