Following the successful quelling of the attack on Tesla, TSLA shares rose 3.97% on Thursday to close at $2238.75. In the pre-market, the stock price is 1% up.
The stock of electric automaker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) is seeing a new bull run as a faithful employee who has helped the FBI to thwart an attack on Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada. Should the cybersecurity attack, planned by Russian national named Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, had been successful, it would have been a very “serious attack” as Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
Much appreciated. This was a serious attack.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 27, 2020
As published on the United States Department of Justice’s website, ‘Kriuchkov conspired with associates to recruit an employee of a company to introduce malware – i.e., malicious software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system – into the company’s computer network. The malware would supposedly provide Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators with access to the company’s system. 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’.
While media reports have confirmed the unnamed company to be Tesla (TSLA), the identity of the said employee has not been revealed.
Following the successful quelling of the attack on Tesla (TSLA), the company’s shares have seen new greens rising 3.97% on Thursday to close at $2238.75. The shares picked up new momentum in the pre-market, with another 1.26% boost.
How the Attempted Cyber Attack on Tesla Played Out
Media outlet TeslaRATI has detailed the series of events surrounding the foiled cyber attack on Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada.
As described, Kriuchkov approached a Non-U.S. Russian speaking employee at the Gigafactory asking to meet with him in Sparks, Nevada. The employee was known to have access to the electric car maker’s computer networks. The choice of this employee with respect to his Russian and position in the company has opined the well thought out scheme by Kriuchkov and his associates.
After a series of meetings, Kriuchkov asked the employee to help his team insert malware into Tesla’s computer networks. Kriuchkov offered the employee a million-dollar payment but this employee could not sell out his loyalty and rather reported the matter which was taken over by the FBI.
Through the help of the employee, the FBI was able to gather more intel on the attacker’s processes, procedures, and infrastructure, and all efforts subsequently led to the arrest of Kriuchkov on the 22nd of August.
TeslaRATI also noted that investigation and media reports indicated that Kriuchkov had carried out a similar attack on a company named CWT Travels, with $4.5 million obtained as payment to the ransom demanded.
What This Means for Tesla
As a highly tech-focused production company, the attack would have halted Tesla’s (TSLA) operations, which in turn may have a ripple effect on the company’s highly stocks.
As a major employer of labor, the presence of loyal employees capable of turning down a $1 million offer to compromise is a great asset to the company. A common question making the rounds seeks to know how secure Tesla’s systems are against attacks of this nature in the advent of an employee’s compromise.
Cyber attacks to gain control of a publicly listed company is becoming prevalent with the widely reported Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) breach. While hackers will always deploy different means to carry out their hacks, measures including having loyal and cyber security-conscious employees can come to save the day.
next