About three weeks ago, Tesla found itself in the throes of a data breach when two former employees allegedly exposed the company’s confidential information to external parties. In a recent development, a former Tesla staff member has initiated legal action against the electric vehicle manufacturer, asserting that the company maintains lax access controls for safeguarding user data.
The individual behind this lawsuit is Benson Pai, who has taken legal action against Tesla’s California-based facility. He is seeking financial compensation from the automaker for its failure to adequately protect the data of both current and former employees, totaling around 75,000 individuals. This sensitive information is now accessible on the dark web due to what Pai claims are inadequate security measures. Notably, the leaked data even includes the social security number of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The company was alerted to this breach by Handelsbatt, which claims to possess approximately 100 gigabytes of the leaked information.
The outcome of this class-action lawsuit remains uncertain, and only time will reveal its ultimate impact.
In a separate incident, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems,aka Janssen, has informed its CarePath customers of a data breach that was detected in early September of this year. CarePath is an application designed to assist J&J customers with medication recommendations, discounts, prescriptions, and notifications related to drug refills and administration.
The pharmaceutical company disclosed that the data breach was a result of a security vulnerability on IBM servers, which potentially granted unauthorized access to information such as contact details, dates of birth, health insurance information, medical histories, and medical conditions of patients, along with their full names and email addresses. The breach impacts individuals who enrolled on the CarePath website prior to July 2nd, 2023. Fortunately, sensitive information such as social security numbers and financial data was stored separately and remained inaccessible to hackers.
IBM has issued an official statement reassuring the public that the leaked information has not been misused thus far. Nevertheless, they urge CarePath customers to remain vigilant and monitor their bank transactions. Additionally, all affected individuals will be provided with one year of complimentary credit monitoring services to mitigate potential risks arising from cyber fraud.
