{"id":18327,"date":"2021-03-20T16:58:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T20:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18327"},"modified":"2021-03-20T16:58:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T20:58:59","slug":"russian-pleads-guilty-to-tesla-ransomware-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/03\/20\/russian-pleads-guilty-to-tesla-ransomware-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian pleads guilty to Tesla ransomware plot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"ssrcss-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">A Russian man in the US has pleaded guilty to plotting to extort money from the electric car company Tesla.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov is accused of offering an employee $1m (\u00a3721,000) to place ransomware in the computer network of the company&#8217;s battery plant in Nevada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>He planned to use the ransomware to steal company secrets for extortion, prosecutors alleged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The 27-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday in Reno, Nevada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Kriuchkov acted on behalf of criminals abroad and tried to bribe a Tesla employee in person, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Ransomware attacks companies or organisations by scrambling their internal computer networks, stealing information or locking users out. The attackers then demand large sums of money in return for ending the hack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/av\/technology-35091536\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is ransomware?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/av\/world-us-canada-46763230\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The teenager getting rich through hacking<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-56174404\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elon Musk loses world&#8217;s richest title as Tesla falters<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The FBI said the planned attack on Tesla was stopped before it could take place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Kriuchkov told a court in September that the Russian government was aware of the planned hack, but the FBI and lawyers have not alleged that there were ties to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;The swift response of the company and the FBI prevented a major exfiltration of the victim company&#8217;s data and stopped the extortion scheme at its inception,&#8221; Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuaid said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Kruichokov was in the US for five weeks on a tourist visa in July and August last year when he tried to recruit the Tesla employee,\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Business\/wireStory\/russian-man-admits-ransomware-plot-tesla-nevada-76560235?cid=clicksource_4380645_9_heads_posts_headlines_hed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to court documents reported in US media.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>He was quoted as saying that he and his co-conspirators would steal the data, and if Tesla refused to pay the ransom the company&#8217;s secrets would be placed on the internet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/7044253-Egor-Igorevich-Kriuchkov-criminal-complaint.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US Department of Justice said that he took the employee out for drinks<\/a>\u00a0multiple times and gave him a phone. After the employee told Tesla about the plan, the company contacted the FBI who instructed the employee to record their conversations with Mr Kruichokov.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-3z08n3-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Mr Kruichokov faces up to ten months in prison after signing a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty,\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-hiczm3-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/therecord.media\/russian-who-tried-to-hack-tesla-last-summer-pleads-guilty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to technology website The Record.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-56469475\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">A Russian man in the US has pleaded guilty to plotting to extort money from the electric car company Tesla. Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov is accused of offering an employee $1m (\u00a3721,000) to place ransomware in <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/03\/20\/russian-pleads-guilty-to-tesla-ransomware-plot\/\" title=\"Russian pleads guilty to Tesla ransomware plot\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,3],"tags":[7120,1172,3055,6270,1546,442,6792],"class_list":{"0":"post-18327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-usa","10":"tag-cyber-security","11":"tag-fbi","12":"tag-nevada","13":"tag-ransomware","14":"tag-reno","15":"tag-russia","16":"tag-tesla","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18329,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18327\/revisions\/18329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}