A cyber attack seems to have affected one of India’s top electronics companies. Tata Electronics has said there was a cybersecurity issue after news came out that hackers possibly shared company data that might include papers related to clients like Apple and Tesla.
A report by Reuters says that the ransomware group World Leaks shared over 200,000 files on the dark web. Security experts told Reuters that these files included supposed design and specification documents about Apple and Tesla, both clients of Tata Electronics.
TechCrunch reported that a hacker forum said it had over 630GB of data claimed to be stolen from Tata Electronics. This includes more than 204,300 files. TechCrunch looked at some files and found what seemed to be Apple supplier specs and Tesla manufacturing documents, but they could not confirm if the data was real or complete.
The company stated: “A few weeks ago, Tata Electronics identified a cybersecurity incident on some of our systems. Our response protocols were deployed immediately, and the incident has had no impact on our operations across businesses, which remain unaffected.”
Apple is investigating the breach and conducting a full analysis of the situation, the news agency reported. Citing a source familiar with the matter, Reuters said Tata Electronics had received a ransom demand related to the incident. Apple did not respond to requests for comment, while Tata Electronics declined to comment on the reported ransom demand.
Tata Electronics told some workers about a security issue in their iPhone assembly last week, according to Reuters. This problem makes it harder for Apple to grow its manufacturing in India, where Tata is now one of its key partners outside China.
Tata Electronics started in 2020 and quickly became an important player in India’s electronics and chip-making goals. The company has over 75,000 workers and has facilities all over the country. It has teamed up with global tech firms like Apple, Tesla, ASML, Intel, and Qualcomm.
The company is now a bigger part of Apple’s supply chain than it was three years ago. In 2023, Tata started making iPhones by buying Wistron’s operations in India, which has worked with Apple for a long time. Tata then bought 60 percent of Pegatron’s Indian unit, which made its role in iPhone production even stronger.
Tata is now working more with Tesla. In 2024, they made a deal to supply semiconductors to the electric car company, showing their stronger role in global tech supply chains.
Cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told that the data advertised on the forum included Outlook email conversations, SAP-related information, and documents purportedly linked to some of Tata Electronics’ customers, including Apple and Tesla.
Another security researcher who reviewed the data dump, Rakesh Krishnan, told Reuters it had been accessible on the dark web since at least June 10.
Investigations are still going on. Customers, cybersecurity experts, and industry watchers are closely monitoring how big the breach is and its possible effects on important business information.
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