Last Tuesday, Aug. 25, the FBI arrested Egor Kriuchkov, 27, a Russian national. He was charged with traveling to the U.S. to commit a crime.

Kriuchkov was attempting a high-level malware attack. He tried to enlist an employee of a Nevada company to “introduce malicious software into the company’s computer network, extract data from the network, and extort ransom money from the company.” 

The employee was offered up to $1 million to enable the ransomware hack. 

No court indictment named the targeted company or the employee. But there was wide speculation in news outlets that cover the electric car scene that Tesla was the target of the hack. 

U.S.-based electric carmaker Tesla operates a mega-factory in Sparks, Nevada, in very close proximity to Reno, where Kriuchkov proposed the conspiracy.

In a tweet Thursday, Aug. 27, Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that there was a hacking plot that targeted Tesla.

“Much appreciated. This was a serious attack,” Musk wrote, in response to multiple news inquiries and reports.

Ransomware Attacks are a cybersecurity threat

Ransomware attacks are becoming more frequent. Interpol recently issued an alert to the possibility that the upcoming elections may be vulnerable. Many of the recent attacks on Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook involved ransomware.