Russian man pleads guilty to cyberattack attempt on Tesla Nevada factory

A Russian man attempted a cyberattack on the Tesla Nevada factory last year when he tried to recruit an employee to put malware on the company's computers amid meetings at Reno restaurants and bars, and a visit to Lake Tahoe.

Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiring to travel to the United States to recruit a Tesla employee into a scheme to introduce malicious software into the company’s computer network, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada announced Thursday.

Following an August report by Teslarati.com — detailing how the Tesla employee reportedly turned down $1 million, worked with the FBI and helped thwart the alleged malware attack — Elon Musk had tweeted "Much appreciated. This was a serious attack."

The U.S. Attorney's Office had not specified that Tesla was the targeted company.

Kriuchkov had offered to pay the employee with Bitcoin, prosecutors have said.

Read more: https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/03/18/man-pleads-guilty-cyberattack-attempt-tesla-nevada-factory/4758684001/
(Reno Gazette Journal)