Tesla's massive data breach in May affected more than 75,000 people, carmaker says

• A data breach at Tesla led to the leak of 75,735 people's personal information.
• German publication Handelsblatt reported in May that it had obtained confidential Tesla information.

A massive data breach at Tesla leaked the personal information of more than 75,000 people and was the result of "insider wrongdoing," the carmaker said.

German publication Handelsblatt reported in May that Tesla was hit by a massive breach revealing everything from the personal information of past and present employees to customer complaints about their cars.

The outlet said it had spent months examining the data, which included over 23,000 files from 2015 to 2022.

The "Tesla files" contained 100 gigabytes of confidential data, which included employees' names and contact information such as addresses, cell phone numbers, and email addresses, Tesla said in a notice to staff, which was shared with the office of the Maine Attorney General.

The leaked data also included around 2,400 customer complaints about Teslas suddenly accelerating and a further 1,500 complaints of braking issues, including 383 cases of "phantom braking," as Insider previously reported.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's social security number was also part of the leak, the Handelsblatt report said.

In the notice to staff, the company shed light on the extent of the leak, revealing that 75,735 people were affected.

"The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla's IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet," the notice read.

"The outlet has stated that it does not intend to publish the personal information, and in any event, is legally prohibited from using it inappropriately," it added.

The carmaker said that a series of lawsuits had resulted in the seizure of the devices thought to have contained the information, while it had "also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data."