The “Handelsblatt” newspaper reported on Friday that 100 gigabytes of confidential data had been exposed to it, including sensitive information about customers, employees and business partners. Other documents marked as confidential deal, among other things, safety issues with self-driving cars, the development of new battery cells or electric transportation planned by a US manufacturer.
Brandenburg’s data protection officer Dagmar Hartge spoke about the massive data leak: “I can’t remember a situation like this in my time.” According to its own information, “Handelsblatt” has received sensitive data from more than 100,000 current and former employees, including salary claims and addresses. Tesla operates a large factory in Grünheide near Berlin. However, because workers across Europe were affected, the case was handed over to the Dutch authorities. The Dutch Data Protection Authority said that they had been informed. However, it was too early to say whether an investigation would be launched. In addition to warnings, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also provides a fine that could theoretically reach up to four percent of the group’s sales – and Tesla’s annual sales of around $81.5 billion, which could be up to $3.26 billion.
The company notified Dutch authorities, the newspaper report said. Tesla told the newspaper that a former employee was suspected of passing on data “in breach of confidentiality obligations”. Tesla wants to take legal action against the suspect. The newspaper “Handelsblatt” reported that the informant contacted the newspaper because he had a bad experience with the company and under Tesla’s boss. Elon Musk I didn’t think I could solve the case internally.
IG Metall asked the company to inform employees about all violations of data protection rights. “This revelation is troubling and at the same time consistent with the picture we have obtained in less than two years from our own impressions and from the information of our colleagues at Tesla,” said Dirk Schulze, district manager at IG Metall in Berlin, Brandenburg and. Saxony from June. Apparently, more personal data is open to all kinds of misuse, while at the same time company management puts a lot of pressure on employees to commit to greater confidentiality obligations. “If management wants to prevent incidents like this from happening again, it should foster a culture where employees can talk about problems and grievances openly and without fear.”
RBC leaves Tesla at “Outperform” – target $212
RBC Bank of Canada left Tesla with an Outperform rating and a $212 price target. Analyst Tom Narayan asserted in a study published Friday that the automaker will open its network of payment centers to rival Ford. This is a big step for Ford. It should be in Tesla’s interest to increase the acceptance of electromobility and facilitate access to government subsidies. Electric car makers don’t have much overlap with Ford either.
NASDAQ-listed Tesla shares rose 4.72 percent to $193.17.
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