A Russian national who attempted to recruit a Tesla employee to plant malware into the IT network of Tesla's Nevada factory has pleaded guilty in federal court.
According to court documents, from July 15, 2020, to Aug. 22, 2020, Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, conspired with others to recruit an employee of a large U.S. company to infect the company’s computer network with malware and with its help to steal data from the company and then extort the victim by threatening to disclose the data.
As part of the conspiracy, Kriuchkov traveled from Russia to California through New York. On numerous occasions between Aug. 1, 2020, and Aug. 21, 2020, Kriuchkov traveled from California to Nevada in an attempt to entice the employee to participate in this hacking scheme, offering to pay as much as $1 million in Bitcoin if the latter would agree to participate in the “special project”. After meeting with Kriuchkov, the employee reported his conduct to the victim company, which promptly contacted the FBI.
Kriuchkov, who was arrested on August 22, 2020, in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer and is scheduled to be sentenced May, 10.