A Russian citizen who tried to hack Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) last year and introducing malware to compromise the company pleaded guilty in the U.S. and could face up to ten months in prison, according to a report by The Associated Press.
What happened: Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to intentionally damage a protected computer, according to the report.
A federal lawsuit was filed against Kriuchkov in Nevada last August. The Russian citizen was accused of offering a $ 1 million bribe in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to an employee of a company in Nevada – then identified only as Company A – to surreptitiously insert malware into the company’s systems.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk later confirmed that the automaker was the target of a hacking attempt by a Russian citizen and his co-conspirators.
Kriuckkov said the inside job would be camouflaged with a distributed denial of service attack on the factory’s computers in order to overload the servers with garbage traffic, according to the Associated Press, which cited court documents. The hackers then planned to extort Tesla for a ransom payment.
See also: Why Tesla charging stations are a key advantage for your future
Why does it matter: The data breach shows how companies need to take more effective measures to deal with the threat of cyber attacks that have increased in intensity in the midst of the pandemic. It also shows how hackers can take data from companies, including Tesla, hostage in exchange for rescue funds.
Earlier this month, Tesla was among several companies that were affected by a massive security camera breach, with hackers gaining access to live images of the electric car maker’s factories and warehouses.
Share Price: Tesla shares closed about 0.3% higher on Friday at $ 654.87.
Click here to check Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest news on electric vehicles
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.