Crims with ties to Tesla and SpaceX 'fess up to computerized conspiracies

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has revealed that two sets of crooks have confessed to conspiracies against companies led by Elon Musk. One of the incidents saw a Russian national plead guilty to a conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer. Twenty-seven year-old Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov travelled to …

[Mike 137]

Two not so master criminals?

What was lacking for ultimate success in both cases was adequate understanding of psychology. Strangely enough, this lack has been identified quite widely as a characteristic of the "online generation", for whom internet mediated contact has largely replaced face to face engagement. If it's a real cultural phenomenon, it can only be beneficial for cyber defence, as a high proportion of primary vectors involve manipulation of persons.

[Doctor Syntax]

SpaceX engineer named James Roland Jones - aka “Millionaire Mike” - has pled guilty to insider trading.

ISTR that his boss had a run-in with TPTB about making financially significant statements.

[Alan Brown]

Who else?

"The Russian national stated in dealings with his target that he had pulled this stunt off multiple times in other companies. Those efforts started three-and-a-half years before his run at Tesla."

3.5 years is a long time and there are clearly other companies which have been compromised. I'd imagine his movements (border crossings) over the last few years will be undergoing close scrutiny as will his phone records (all that yummy metadata of who phoned whom and when)

Following on from that, the other companies involved are likely to face prosecution or shareholder action for not reporting being compromised

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Who else?

"Following on from that, the other companies involved are likely to face prosecution or shareholder action for not reporting being compromised"

If the stolen info was used for blackmail of some kind, then the "other companies" knew they were blackmailed, and that might already be public, but they didn't actually identify K as the initial leak.

If it was IP that was just siphoned off and quietly sold to a foreign competitor or state, how would the "other companies" know?

[Pascal Monett]

US$1M dollars

A nice amount, to be sure, but I would definitely want that in cash. $20 bills, preferably. You can use that to pay for gas and food and the IRS will be none the wiser.

Of course, that is based on the premise that I would accept the deal in the first place. This employee obviously did the right thing, or Kriuchkov's recruitment methods were not up to snuff.

[Gene Cash]

I hope the targeted employee pounded on Elon's door going "need see Buckaroo!!"

Am I the only Buckaroo Banzai fan still around? Yes? OK, I'll get my coat...