A Russian pleaded guilty to an attempt to steal data from Ilona Mask's company: how he acted

A Russian citizen pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to travel to the United States to recruit a Tesla employee in Nevada to participate in a scheme to inject malware into Tesla's computer network. This is stated on the site US Department of Justice.

Photo: Shutterstock

According to court documents and confessions made in court, from July 15 to August 22, 2020, 27-year-old Yegor Igorevich Kryuchkov conspired with accomplices to hire an employee of a large American company to transfer malware provided by the conspirators to the Tesla computer network.

Having installed malicious software, Kryuchkov and his accomplices planned to use this software to exfiltrate data from the Tesla computer network, after which they wanted to extort money from the company using threats to disclose the data.

To carry out the conspiracy, Kryuchkov left Russia for California via New York. Between August 1 and August 21, 2020, he traveled repeatedly from California to Nevada to persuade a company employee to participate in his hacking scheme. Kryuchkov promised to pay him in bitcoins if he agreed to inject malware. But the employee did not covet the "fee", but reported the insidious plan to the management of the company, which immediately contacted the FBI. The department thwarted this scheme.

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According to the publication Meduza, Kryuchkov planned to attack Tesla's Gigafactory 1, owned by Elon Musk and located in the state of Nevada. Musk personally confirmed this on his Twitter.

"Much obliged. This could have been a serious attack,” the billionaire wrote, commenting on media publications about Kryuchkov and his fraud.

Screenshot: Twitter / Elon Mask

“The company's and the FBI's swift response prevented a major theft of a potential victim's information and stopped the extortion scheme at an early stage,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuade of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. “This case demonstrates the importance of companies contacting law enforcement.”

“This situation underscores our office’s commitment to protecting trade secrets and other confidential information owned by U.S. businesses. That's becoming more important every day as Nevada emerges as a hub for technological innovation, said Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiu for the District of Nevada. “Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to prioritize preventing cybercriminals from harming American businesses and consumers.”

“This is a great example of community outreach. It resulted in strong partnerships that resulted in proactive law enforcement efforts that prevented any harm from occurring,” said Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rose of the FBI Las Vegas Office.

Kryuchkov pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to intentionally damage a protected computer. He will be sentenced on May 10.

How it all happened

The story began when Kryuchkov contacted a Russian-speaking Tesla Gigafactory Nevada employee. The employee, whose identity has not been disclosed, has access to the computer networks of the electric vehicle manufacturer, writes Teslarati.

This man, as well as some of his colleagues and Kryuchkov, met on August 1-3, including going to Lake Tahoe. Interestingly, Kryuchkov refused to be photographed. After a relatively harmless trip to Lake Tahoe, a Russian citizen asked a Tesla employee to meet with him on some "business."

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During their "business" meeting, Kryuchkov spoke about his insidious plan. According to the hacker's plan, the Tesla employee was to inject malware provided by Kryuchkov and his associates into the systems of the electric vehicle manufacturer.

If the malware were to be installed, a distributed DDoS attack would occur, allowing hackers to extract corporate and network data. This data would be held as a ransom until the victim paid them.

For participation in this scheme, an employee of the company was offered $ 500, which was subsequently increased to $ 000 million. They promised to pay the amount in bitcoins.

Unfortunately for Kryuchkov and his team, a Giga Nevada employee announced the planned attack. The FBI intervened, and already under the close scrutiny of the department, the Tesla employee continued to communicate with Kryuchkov in order to get as much information as possible about the processes, procedures, and infrastructure of the hackers. In one of his conversations, Kryuchkov boasted that his team recently received a ransom worth more than $ 4 million from a well-known company. Later reports indicated that it was CWT Travel.

During a meeting on August 19, a Tesla employee met with Kryuchkov. The hacker agreed to pay an advance of $ 11. Two days later, on August 000, a Tesla employee was contacted again by the hacker, who said that the project was "postponed" and that all payments associated with the plan would not be deferred. Kryuchkov also told a Tesla employee that he was leaving the area the next day. Apparently, he tried to flee the United States.

The plan failed: Kryuchkov was detained on August 22, 2020 in Los Angeles. Now the hacker is in custody pending trial.

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