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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday August 29 2020, @04:31AM   Printer-friendly
from the insider-threats dept.

Russian tourist offered employee $1 million to cripple Tesla with malware:

Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory was the target of a concerted plot to cripple the company's network with malware, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Thursday afternoon.

The plan's outline was divulged on Tuesday in a criminal complaint that accused a Russian man of offering $1 million to the employee of a Nevada company, identified only as "Company A," in exchange for the employee infecting the company's network. The employee reported the offer to Tesla and later worked with the FBI in a sting that involved him covertly recording face-to-face meetings discussing the proposal.

"The purpose of the conspiracy was to recruit an employee of a company to surreptitiously transmit malware provided by the coconspirators into the company's computer system, exfiltrate data from the company's network, and threaten to disclose the data online unless the company paid the coconspirators' ransom demand," prosecutors wrote in the complaint.

Was the Russian working for Ivan Vanko?


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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:15PM (4 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:15PM (#1043795)

    I just can't understand companies who are not willing to compete on the merits of their products alone. I mean surely they have what it takes to give Tesla a run for their money. Why resort to such dirty tactics?

    How many successful Russian car companies do you know of? I can't think of a single one. If Russia can't make any car companies that are competitive on the global market like Toyota, Honda, VW, etc., then how are they going to compete in the EV market?

    In fact, what products does Russia make that are competitive on the global market at all? Again, I can't think of a single one. The only thing I know Russia is successful at exporting is oil and gas. They used to be good at space launch hardware, but now SpaceX and some other companies have rendered them unneeded.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:42PM (#1043914)
    Russian tanks and small arms* sell very well on the international markets, but the gas and oil pipelines** are their bread-and-butter. Their rocket program has a hard-earned reputation for reliability, but quality control has been suffering of late. What screwed over Roscosmos was actually the loss of the STS Columbia. Without a replacement manned rocked*3 US astronauts were being sent up on Russian rockets at extortionate*4 rates, and instead of investing the money into R&D they spent it all on hookers and blow*5. Now that the gravy train has been cut off they are insolvent, because heaven forbid they cut back on the graft. They used to export quite a few aircraft, but between the breakup of the Soviet Block and their inability to produce the newest generation of high efficiency jet engines*6, the market was largely taken over by Boeing and Airbus. The only other Russian export I can think of is mail order brides. *Made in eastern Ukraine, currently occupied by Russia. **South Ossetia and friends, also occupied territory. *3 Congress cut the research budget back when NASA needed to start work on it. *4 A ticket for one seat paid for the entire launch. *5 I assume the execs didn't just burn the money to heat their mansions. *6 The root problem with the 737 MAX was trying to fit the newest engines on a legacy airframe design that simply isn't compatible with them.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:31PM (#1043934)

    Um...maybe Vodka?

  • (Score: 2) by engblom on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:47PM (1 child)

    by engblom (556) on Saturday August 29 2020, @09:47PM (#1043937)

    In fact, what products does Russia make that are competitive on the global market at all? Again, I can't think of a single one.

    While it is not as expensive as cars, they are successful in making razor blades. The market is dominated by Russian made blades. Even Gillette blades are made in the St Petersburg factory. I am shaving with Sputnik branded Russian made double edge blades coming from that factory.
    When it comes to clothing, few shell clothes beats the Russian "gorka" suits. I live in a Western country but I buy those suits because they are good for their price.

    Because of how Russia is led and how many countries are not doing business with Russia because of their politics you do not see the same much products from there as it could be otherwise. I am not defending their politics, I just think it is unfair to say that they are not making competitive products at all.

    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:46PM

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday August 29 2020, @10:46PM (#1043963)

      That's funny, I actually use Russian-made "Astra" double-edge blades too. I didn't really think of it as some kind of major industry though (most people don't use double-edged blades these days, and I didn't know about Gillette) so I didn't mention it.

      As for suits, who still wears those?

      I don't think it's unfair to say they aren't making competitive products at all. How many Russian products are for sale in other countries (especially North America, Europe, and Japan/Korea)? Almost none. It's entirely fair to say this, because it's true, and if their politics are a big reason for this, well that's their own fault, isn't it? If you want to be a major trading partner with rich countries, you have to play nice with them. If you're an asshole, they won't want to trade with you, and look at what lack of trade has done to North Korea and Iran. It's really no different from people operating at a personal level: if a neighborhood shopkeeper is an asshole, people won't want to buy from him any more, and he goes out of business (while griping about how "unfair" it is).