According to a report by the Handelsblatt, a former Tesla employee claims to have stolen 100 GB of data and handed it over to the editors. Informat accuses Tesla of protecting its data and that of its customers too poorly. Tesla did not respond to the questions from the Handelsblatt, but only made its own statement.
Apparently Tesla doesn't use protection technology like DLP - Data Leakage Prevention or it doesn't work very well. Tesla wrote to the Handelsblatt that a disgruntled employee had illegally stolen data from the group. The ex-Tesla employee handed over a total of 100 GB of data, which probably came from the project planning area, to the Handelsblatt. His intention: the Tesla Group would only adequately protect its data and that of all customers against unauthorized access or attacks. With his data theft he probably wants to prove how easy it is at Tesla.
100 GB of real Tesla data?
Tesla only responded briefly to a request from the Handelsblatt. The data was stolen by a disgruntled former employee. The former service technician is said to have abused his access. This is how he is said to have exfiltrated the information. That was Tesla's answer from corporate lawyer Joseph Alm. Tesla wanted to take legal action. However, Tesla did not respond to further questions asked by the Handelsblatt. However, the lawyer's response suggests that the data supplied is genuine.
Tesla demands data protection from the Handelsblatt
Teslas hasn't answered a single question from the Handelsblatt, but that doesn't stop the group from explaining the GDPR to the Handelsblatt. The lawyer wrote:
“As you know, the use of illegally obtained data for media reporting is only permissible in exceptional circumstances. Possessing such data without justification violates, among other things, data protection law. And improper handling of this information exposes recipients such as the Handelsblatt to liability for breaches of trade secrets, data protection laws and the handling of stolen data, among other things. If such sensitive data is in your possession, you must also carefully protect it against further misuse. To this end, please send us a copy of this information, promptly delete any other copies and confirm that you have done so." like Tesla.
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In short: Even if Tesla was not able to prevent the data extraction itself and one is not even sure that it is Tesla's data, the Handelsblatt should hand over all data and delete the copies. This all sounds like a typical approach for Tesla. Time will tell if the whistleblower has more to say.
More at Handelsblatt.com