Feds indict Russian in Tesla cyberattack plot

The Russian national implicated in a planned cyberattack against a Nevada company was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, prosecutors said.

Federal agents thwarted the cyberattack in August against the company. The target was later revealed to be Tesla’s Nevada factory, CEO Elon Musk said.

“This was a serious attack,” Musk tweeted.

The indictment alleges that Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, tried to recruit a Tesla employee to plant malware into the company’s computer network. Kriuchkov faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Kriuchkov offered the Tesla worker $1 million for his participation in the “special project,” according to the indictment.

The employee reported Kriuchkov’s plans to Tesla, and the company alerted federal authorities. FBI agents recruited the Tesla employee in their investigation, which led to Kriuchkov’s Aug. 22 arrest as he tried to flee the country, according to the criminal complaint unsealed last week.

The malware would have allowed

Kriuchkov and co-conspirators access to Tesla’s computer system.

After planting the malware, Kriuchkov “would extract data from the network and then threaten to make the information public, unless the company paid their ransom demand,” according to a release from U.S. Attorney Nicholas Trutanich’s office.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said last week that in this case, the agency “was once again able to intervene before any damage could occur.”