Tesla managed to prevent a recent attempt to infect its computer network with malicious software, says Elon Musk. Tesla employee cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation towards catching the ones who are responsible for the attack. This malicious software would have created chaos in Tesla’s Gigafactory computer network by letting perpetrators extort ransom from the company.
With charges being filed against the Russian national, Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27 years of age by the Department of Justice, Musk confirmed in a tweet about the foiled attack. However, the U.S. government has not yet named the targeted company in its sealed court documents.
The investigations started about the alleged conspiracy after an employee of Tesla informed the organization about the approach by Egor. The employee’s name is yet unknown. Egor offered $1 million worth of bitcoin to the employee to participate in this special project.
If the employee participated in the project, the accused would receive full access to Tesla ‘s data. Then the criminals would use the data to threaten the company and demand ransom. Their expectancy was to demand $4 million from the botched conspiracy. As soon as the FBI got hold of the news they launched a sting operation to apprehend Kriuchkov and his subordinates.
Tesla employee to continue playing the role
The Tesla employee continued playing his role, while law enforcement doing their part to catch the accused. On the 17th of August, both parties met and the Egor advised him to take necessary steps in deploying the malware.
“Kriuchkov and the co-conspirator advised the employee that the computer used to receive the malware transmission should remain running for six to eight hours. The unidentified co-conspirator stated that once the group received access to Victim Company A (Tesla’s) data, they would execute a simulated external attack of the company,” reads the court record.
The unnamed employee would only receive the Bitcoin if the task completed. The FBI managed to apprehend the accused with the end of the sting operation on the 22nd of August.
