The “Tesla files” contain more than 23,000 files.
Informants have passed 100 gigabytes of data to the Handelsblatt, which are said to come from the heart of the world’s largest electric car manufacturer. The “Tesla files” contain more than 23,000 files. Some documents appear to show the salaries and home addresses of more than 100,000 current and former employees. Others presumably list customers’ private email addresses and telephone numbers.
The Handelsblatt wants to talk to those people whose information is part of the Tesla files. The editors therefore provide a service that readers can use to check whether their information is included in the data set. The tool searches selected files for your employee ID or vehicle number (VIN).
Your data will not be disclosed. You only receive information about which data types can be found for the respective ID or VIN. More detailed information is not possible from the point of view of data protection. Anyone who locates their data in the Tesla files can use the e-mail address [email protected] contact the editors.
The results of the inquiries do not claim to be complete in the entire Tesla files. Due to the sheer volume and structure of the data sets, the editors had to make a selection as to which of the more than a thousand Excel spreadsheets could be included in the query tool. Therefore, a “no” or “not found” as an answer does not necessarily mean that the VIN or PN you are looking for is not included in the more than 100 gigabytes of data in the Tesla files.
The authorities are also concerned with the Tesla files. Informants accuse the company of not adequately protecting its data and have informed the data protection supervisory authority in Brandenburg. Their boss Dagmar Hartge sees “serious indications of possible data protection violations”. Sensitive data could be very widely accessible due to “the insufficient restrictions on access rights within the group.”
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Meanwhile, Tesla has launched its own investigation. The company left a catalog of questions from the Handelsblatt unanswered. However, a Tesla attorney said when asked that the carmaker had “reason to believe” that “a disgruntled former employee” “abused his access as a service technician” to exfiltrate information before he left.
The company accuses the employee of violating “his signed non-disclosure agreement, Tesla’s data management policies and practices, and EU and German law.” Tesla announced that it would take legal action “for the theft of confidential information and personal data”.
More: The Tesla Files – questions and answers for research