Alleged internal sabotage to delay Model 3?

[WMGroomAK]

Tesla may be having further issues with Model 3 production after an alleged sabotage of the code for the company's production systems and an export of a large amount of data by a disgruntled employee.

 

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/06/tesla-model-3-production-has-been-sabotaged-according-to-cnc/

Quote

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused a Tesla employee of "quite extensive and damaging sabotage to our operations," according to an email obtained by CNBC. In the all-hands email to Tesla staff, Musk wrote that the employee had made "direct code changes" to the company's production systems, as well as exporting "large amounts" of Tesla's data to unknown third parties.

 

According to Musk's email, the unnamed employee claimed he had become disgruntled after failing to receive a promotion. However, the Tesla CEO also suggested the alleged saboteur could have been working with short sellers, oil and gas companies—whom he described as "sometimes not super nice"—or "the multitude of big gas/diesel car company competitors." Of this last group, Musk reminded his employees that, since the traditional OEMs have been known to cheat emissions tests, "maybe they're willing to cheat in other ways."

 

On Monday, Musk sent out another email to the company about yet another factory fire—the fifth by our count—alluding to the possibility of sabotage. And in 2016, one of Musk's other companies, SpaceX, asked to inspect the roof of a competitor's building following the explosion on the launchpad of one of SpaceX's rockets.

 

Tesla has faced plenty of criticism about its ongoing troubles in ramping up Model 3 production. But that may have been unwarranted if those problems were due to sabotage. We reached out to Tesla regarding CNBC's story, but the company declined to comment at this time

CNBC article:  https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/elon-musk-email-employee-conducted-extensive-and-damaging-sabotage.html

 

Not sure if any of this is true since Tesla has not confirmed or denied the email formally, however, if it is true, then that disgruntled employee is in for some serious legal troubles...  Of course, it could also be that they are just having separate internal problems and this is an excuse for further delays.  Not much information at present, but will try to update if more comes out...

[Jito463]

[mr moose]

If he sent it to everyone it shouldn't be hard for someone to confirm it's legitimacy.   Mind you I find it a little out of character for muck (or any CEO for that matter) to be quite so conspiratorial in blaming other companies.   Not because of its propensity to be true but because it generally doesn't go over too well with consumers (no one likes finger pointers without proof).

[S w a t s o n]

50 minutes ago, mr moose said:

If he sent it to everyone it shouldn't be hard for someone to confirm it's legitimacy.   Mind you I find it a little out of character for muck (or any CEO for that matter) to be quite so conspiratorial in blaming other companies.   Not because of its propensity to be true but because it generally doesn't go over too well with consumers (no one likes finger pointers without proof).

According to the email which can be found here, the person was caught and admitted to at least the motivation. If he was exporting data to third companies as suggested then who else would it be to?

 

[Misanthrope]

Ah I see that Mr Musk has finally found the time to return to his operations instead of starting Twitter drama by declaring he's a socialist because he's read the works of Isaac Asimov.

[Taf the Ghost]

Corporate Espionage is quite the common occurrence, but outright sabotage is a little more rare.

[Gullerback]

Spying is pretty common but thats the serious dangerous shit, Especially consdering SpaceX

[S w a t s o n]

43 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

Corporate Espionage is quite the common occurrence, but outright sabotage is a little more rare.

I feel like if there's an industry to expect it from it would be "Big Auto" or "Big Oil" (probably big auto)

[Taf the Ghost]

34 minutes ago, Swatson said:

I feel like if there's an industry to expect it from it would be "Big Auto" or "Big Oil" (probably big auto)

Agreed. Tesla has a lot of tech & IP that's quite valuable. So, we'll just have to see.

 

Normally this stuff is Chinese data theft (and done by Eastern European hacking groups), so it's really just more interesting if it's an insider. Normally this stuff ends in Patent lawsuits over the course of years.

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, Swatson said:

According to the email which can be found here, the person was caught and admitted to at least the motivation. If he was exporting data to third companies as suggested then who else would it be to?

 

Given the tech they have invested in in those cars I'd imagine just about everyone would be interested in it.   

[Cookybiscuit]

Good.

[hobobobo]

What a surprise! I guess model 3 is tougher to churn out then anticipated. 2020 it is

[VanayadGaming]

3 hours ago, mr moose said:

Given the tech they have invested in in those cars I'd imagine just about everyone would be interested in it.   

They did open source all their patents tho..

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, VanayadGaming said:

They did open source all their patents tho..

Apparently not all their "highly sensitive tesla data" is open source.

[Brooksie359]

7 hours ago, huilun02 said:

If its true, the culprit's name and photo should be put up on the internet so he will never receive employment again.

Not as defamation but a duty of care to any business who happens to find his resume in the mail.

I mean he should get legal repercussions in which case it will be on his criminal record and a simple background check that most employers do will pick it up and will likely prevent them from getting a job. Sabatoging that causes a fire and extensive property damage is not a small crime to say the least. 

[Ryujin2003]

6 hours ago, mr moose said:

Apparently not all their "highly sensitive tesla data" is open source.

And if the code leaked was proprietary, if assume the lack of response on Tesla's part could be due to a legal investigation?

[Master Disaster]

Musk is one of a small number of people with the ability to be able to kill someone then dispose of the body somewhere no one would ever find it.

 

I'd think twice about pissing him off.

[ItsMitch]

50 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Musk is one of a small number of people with the ability to be able to kill someone then dispose of the body somewhere no one would ever find it.

 

He does own a rocket company... thinking 

[Jito463]

4 hours ago, SC2Mitch said:

He does own a rocket company... thinking 

Why do you think there's a space suit in the car......

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

18 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

Why do you think there's a space suit in the car......

To fill it full of Skittles...