Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla was the victim of an inside attack which resulted in over 75,000 current and former employees having their personal data exposed.

Fox Business reported this weekend that the company put out a statement to its workforce regarding the event which occurred earlier in the year.

Two former Tesla employees said to be responsible

"A foreign media outlet (named Handelsblatt) informed Tesla on May 10, 2023 that it had obtained Tesla confidential information," the notice read.

"The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet," it continued.

Tesla’s May data breach impacted more than 75,000 people, included employee-related records and was a result of “insider wrongdoing” https://t.co/bgy7chttK0

— Bloomberg (@business) August 20, 2023

"The outlet has stated that it does not intend to publish the personal information, and in any event, is legally prohibited from using it inappropriately," the statement stressed.

Lawsuits filed against alleged perpetrators

The electric automobile builder explained that it "immediately took steps to contain the incident, understand the scope, and protect your information."

Those actions included identifying the pair of former employees in question and filing lawsuits against them, something which has "resulted in the seizure of the former employees’ electronic devices that were believed to have contained the Tesla information."

The information included names, addresses, cell phone numbers, and email addresses.https://t.co/cb2OhOyoO3

— Insider Tech (@TechInsider) August 20, 2023

"Tesla also obtained court orders that prohibit the former employees from further use, access, or dissemination of the data, subject to criminal penalties," the statement pointed out.

It also declared that "Tesla cooperated with law enforcement and external forensics experts and will continue to take appropriate steps as necessary."

Credit monitoring services offered to affected employees

What's more, the company went on to say that although the exposed data included information kept "in the ordinary course of business in its capacity as an employer," there has been no "evidence of misuse of the data in a manner that may cause harm."

The information included names, addresses, cell phone numbers, and email addresses.https://t.co/cb2OhOyoO3

— Insider Tech (@TechInsider) August 20, 2023

Nevertheless, it is still offering "credit monitoring and identity detection and resolution services" to any employees who were impacted.

Fox Business noted that the Maine Attorney General's Office put out an alert last Friday which stated that nine state residents had been affected by the breach.