Russian national pleads guilty in planned Tesla factory cyberattack

A Russian national pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to conspiring on a planned cyberattack against a Tesla’s factory in Nevada.

Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, conspired with others over last summer to recruit a Tesla employee to transmit malware into the company’s computer network, according to court documents and admissions made in court.

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

Once the malware was installed, Kriuchkov and his co-conspirators planned to steal data from the company’s computer network and then extort the company by threatening to disclose the data.

“This case highlights our office’s commitment to protecting trade secrets and other confidential information belonging to U.S. businesses — which is becoming even more important each day as Nevada evolves into a center for technological innovation,” acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou said in a statement.

On numerous occasions between Aug. 1 and Aug. 21, Kriuchkov traveled from California to Nevada in an attempt to entice the employee to participate in this hacking scheme, offering to pay the employee with Bitcoin if the employee transmitted the malware, court records show.

After meeting with Kriuchkov, the employee reported his conduct to Tesla, which promptly contacted the FBI. Federal agents thwarted the cyberattack against the company in August, which was later revealed to be Tesla’s Nevada factory. Kriuchkov was arrested Aug. 22 as he tried to flee the country and was indicted in September.

CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet at the time: “This was a serious attack.”

Batteries for the Model 3 and other Tesla battery storage products are produced at the Gigafactory in Nevada.

Kriuchkov pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer and is scheduled to be sentenced May 10.

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.