Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla thwarted a "serious" cyber attack at its Gigafactory in Nevada after a Russian national allegedly attempted to bribe an employee to install ransomware on the company’s network.
The US Justice Department released a complaint earlier this week about an attempted malware attack against an unnamed company in Sparks, Nevada. While the complaint didn't name Tesla specifically, Musk confirmed via Twitter that his company was the target, adding that this was a "serious attack".
As per the complaint, the FBI charged a Russian national, 27-year-old Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, in an alleged conspiracy that involved bribing a Tesla employee “to introduce malicious software into the company’s computer network, extract data from the network, and extort ransom money from the company.”
The unnamed employee met with Kriuchkov, who allegedly offered to pay him $1 million to introduce malware into the company's network. The employee informed Tesla, which then notified the FBI.
The malware was designed to install ransomware, a kind of malware that encrypts a victim’s files in exchange for a ransom. Prosecutors said the ransomware used an increasingly popular new tactic that not only encrypt a victim’s files but also exfiltrates the data to the attacker's servers.
"After the malware was introduced, Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators would extract data from the network and then threaten to make the information public, unless the company paid their ransom demand," the complaint reads.
The FBI launched a sting operation, with the employee wearing a wire and sharing text communications with Kriuchkov as they were negotiating the terms of the malware attack. The continued interaction reportedly helped the FBI to obtain information about previous attacks from this group.
Kriuchkov was leaving the US from Los Angeles on 22 August when he was arrested by the FBI.
In recent months, a number of big name companies have fallen victim to ransomware attacks. Canon was hit by a suspected Maze ransomware attack that rendered various services offline and compromised 10TB of data, while Garmin was attacked by WastedLocker, a ransomware strain deployed by EvilCorp.
-
Using DeepSeek at work is like ‘printing out and handing over your confidential information’News Thinking of using DeepSeek at work? Think again. Cybersecurity experts have warned you're putting your enterprise at huge risk.
-
Can cyber group takedowns last?ITPro Podcast Threat groups can recover from website takeovers or rebrand for new activity – but each successful sting provides researchers with valuable data
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarterNews Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new groupNews The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
-
Google cyber researchers were tracking the ShinyHunters group’s Salesforce attacks – then realized they’d also fallen victimNews In an update to an investigation on the ShinyHunters group, Google revealed it had also been affected
-
Nearly one-third of ransomware victims are hit multiple times, even after paying hackersNews Many ransomware victims are being hit more than once, largely thanks to fragmented security tactics
-
75% of UK business leaders are willing to risk criminal penalties to pay ransomsNews A ransom payment ban is a great idea - until you're the one being targeted...
-
The Scattered Spider ransomware group is infiltrating Slack and Microsoft Teams to target vulnerable employeesNews The group is using new ransomware variants and new social engineering techniques - including sneaking into corporate teleconferences
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crimeNews A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaos
News Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year
