Russian hackers targeted Tesla factory in US: Elon Musk

New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday confirmed that Russian hackers tried to break into the network of electric car-makers Nevada factory in the US.

Earlier this week, the US authorities arrested and charged a Russian national for trying to recruit a Tesla employee to install malware on the company’s network for $1 million.

Several media organisations reported that the attack targeted Tesla which operates a mega-factory near Reno, Nevada, reports ZDNet.

“Much appreciated. This was a serious attack,” Musk replied to his followers on Twitter.

According to court documents, a 27-year-old Russian named Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov reached out to one of Tesla’s employees via WhatsApp.

The two had previously met four years ago.

Kriuchkov revealed to the Tesla employee that he was working with a Russian-based hacker group and “proposed the employee to install a piece of custom-built malware on Tesla’s internal network”.

“The plan was to steal sensitive Tesla files and then threaten to release the data unless Tesla paid a huge ransom demand”.

The FBI arrested Kriuchkov earlier this week who, if found guilty, can face up to five years in prison, the report said.

Several Musk followers asked him to reward the Tesla employee who did not fall for $1 million.

“Give that boy a bonus!” said one follower.

Another wrote to Musk: “Someone should give him some stock options, helps promote a team atmosphere”.

–IANS

na/