Why did they think this would work? On 3 August, oil pipeline services firm Quest Integrity allegedly thought it might be a good idea to secure the email “elontesla@yahoo.com”, use it to impersonate Elon Musk and send an email to Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer asking for confidential information — in language you might expect from your bestie confirming dinner plans while while they are in a bit of a hurry.
This is amazing.
“why you so cautious w Q3/4 gm guidance on call? also what are your thoughts on disclosing M3 res#? Pros/cons from ir pov? what is your best guess as to where we actually come in on q3/4 deliverables. honest guess? no bs. thx 4 hard work prepping 4 today
em”
Unsurprisingly, Tesla’s CFO Jason Wheeler didn’t respond to the email. Instead, Tesla are suing. Electrek broke the news, publishing details of the court case today filed by Tesla and its legal firm Hueston Hennigan LLP against Quest Integrity’s Chief Finacial Officer Todd Katz, the Quest Integrity Group, and 10 John Does. Tesla is suing for costs to investigate “Katz’s criminal misconduct”.
Ketan Joshi on twitter sums up how hilariously bad this really was:
to: ketan.joshi85@gmail.com
from: CEOofurcompany@hotmail.biz.com
subject: what r the secritspls send to me biz secrets coz I forgot them
— Ketan Joshi (@KetanJ0) September 15, 2016
Who would actually fall for this? We’ll be keeping an eye on how this one turns out.