Tesla Data Breaches & Safety Complaints: Massive Leak Report

Tesla did not protect customer, employee, and business partner data well. A whistleblower leaked confidential data from Tesla. The data shows that thousands of customers complained about Tesla’s driver assistance system. Germany’s Handelsblatt reported this.

The report from Handelsblatt claims there's plenty of customer data in a data set called "Tesla Files."

Handelsblatt reported that files have been leaked. The files contain tables of over 100,000 employee names. These include current and former employees. Elon Musk's social security number appears in the tables. The tables also have private email addresses and phone numbers. Some employee salaries are in this document. Additionally, customer bank details are in the files. Secret production details are also part of the leaked documents.

The newspaper stated that if there is a breach, it would break the GDPR.

The Guardian didn't check the documents themselves.

"Massive" data leak found at Tesla's European gigafactory in Brandenburg, says data protection office.

Dagmar Hartge, the data protection officer in Brandenburg, said she couldn't recall a scale like this.

Tesla might face a 4% fine of annual sales if they are found to have violated something. The fine could amount to €3.26bn ($3.5bn).

The newspaper talked about leaked files and said that many people have complained about Tesla's driver assistance. They said that around 4,000 people have had problems with sudden acceleration or phantom braking.

IG Metall, a union in Germany, found the recent revelations about Tesla's data privacy practices "disturbing." They urge Tesla to inform its employees about any violations and create a culture where they can raise complaints freely and without fear.

Dirk Schulze, incoming district manager for IG Metall in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Saxony, said the recent revelations match what they have learned in less than two years.

A lawyer for Tesla talked to Handelsblatt. They said an ex-employee who was unhappy did something wrong. This person had access because they worked as a service technician. Tesla wants to sue them.

The Dutch data protection watchdog knows about potential Tesla data protection problems. This occurred on Friday.

A spokesperson for the AP data watchdog in the Netherlands commented on the Handelsblatt story. They said they are looking into it because Tesla’s European headquarters is located in the Netherlands.

The agency didn't say if they're investigating or not. They have a policy on comments. The Dutch agency was told about it by Germany's Brandenburg state agency.

Tesla told Dutch authorities about the breach. Handelsblatt reported this. But, an AP spokesperson said they didn't know if Tesla actually talked to the agency.

On Friday, Tesla didn't give any comments.

Tesla workers secretly exchanged videos and photos taken by customers' car cameras from 2019 to 2022. Reuters reported this story last month. These sharings occurred through an internal messaging system. Some of the videos and images revealed intimate moments of car owners.

Facebook's parent company, Meta, was fined a whopping €1.2bn by its main privacy regulator in the EU this week. They have been given five months to stop transferring user data to America.