Elon Musk claims Tesla was target of ransomware attack

Tesla boss Elon Musk said the company had suffered an attempted cyberattack on Thursday.

According to Musk, the company was the target of a foiled ransomware attempt at its massive factory near Reno, Nevada.

The Justice Department released a complaint Thursday that described a thwarted malware attack against an unnamed company in Sparks, Nevada. This is where Tesla makes battery cells, packs and electric motors.

The Justice Department alleged that Russian national Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, attempted to recruit and bribe a Tesla employee to introduce malware in the company’s network that would encrypt files that would later be exchanged for a ransom..

An unnamed employee who met with the hacker, later informed Tesla, which then notified the Federal Bureau of Investigations.