India's Tata Electronics hit by cyber breach claiming to expose Apple, Tesla trade secrets

By Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah

NEW DELHI, June 22 (Reuters) - Tata Electronics said on Monday it had detected a recent "cybersecurity incident", after researchers said World Leaks posted purported component design and specification papers of Apple and Tesla, both customers of the Indian group.

The ransomware group has posted more than 200,000 files on the dark web, the security researchers told Reuters.

"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," Tata Electronics told Reuters in a statement.

Apple was investigating the breach and a "full analysis was going on", a source familiar with the matter said, adding that Tata had received a ransom demand related to the incident.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment. Tata Electronics declined to comment on the ransom demand.

The breach is the latest setback for Apple's supply chain in India, where Tata faces scrutiny over alleged contamination of farmlands near one of its iPhone parts plants, Reuters reported.

Tata is emerging as one of Apple's most important manufacturing partners outside China, an expansion that is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to make India an electronics manufacturing powerhouse.

Tata was hit by a cyberattack on its British Jaguar Land Rover group last year that resulted in a six-week output halt.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, a unit under India's IT ministry that oversees cyber incidents, did not immediately respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.

APPLE 'FACTORYDATA' 

World Leaks, which has previously claimed responsibility for a Nike break-in, said on its dark net website that it was publishing stolen data from Tata Electronics.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the data and could not immediately reach World Leaks for comment.  

The World Leaks website says the Tata Electronics data comprises more than 200,000 files totalling over 630 gigabytes. A database on its website shows several purported Apple files and folders, some titled "com.apple.factorydata", and documents referring to "material specification". 

Indian cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia, who reviewed the Tata files on World Leaks for Reuters, said they also contain emails, event logs spanning several years and passport copies of employees including foreign nationals.

Rajaharia has previously advised Indian police on cyber incidents.

The website is only accessible on the dark web, or dark net, beyond the reach of search engines. 

A second security researcher who reviewed the data dump, Rakesh Krishnan, told Reuters it had been accessible on the dark web since at least June 10. 

TESLA DOCUMENTS, 'TRADE SECRET'

Tata also makes parts for Tesla, industry sources say. 

One folder on the World Leaks database was labelled "NV36 Chargeport Controller - North America", a purported reference to parts used in an upgraded version of Tesla's Model Y SUV.

Another purported Tesla 2023 document described as "TRADE SECRET" showed certain drawings for its project Highland - a publicly known internal codename for its revamped Model 3 sedan.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

Rajaharia also shared a screen recording of his review of the files. It showed a search for "Apple" returned 181 files and folders, while a search for "Tesla" returned files including what appeared to be manufacturing specifications and an assembly document dated May 2025. 

Some files published by World Leaks carried footers saying, "This document contains proprietary and confidential information of Apple Inc." and "information contained herein is deemed confidential, proprietary, and a trade secret of Tesla Inc."

The breach highlights the vulnerability of global businesses to increasingly sophisticated cyber and ransom attacks.

Among the files was a 52-page document bearing Apple's proprietary markings purportedly detailing quality inspection standards for iPhone circuit board components. There were also 33 files and folders for search term "Hosur" - the location of Tata's main iPhone assembly plant in Tamil Nadu state.

Tata informed some employees at its iPhone assembly operations last week of the data breach, said a second industry source familiar with the matter.

Tata currently accounts for roughly a third of Apple's iPhone production in India, with Foxconn making up the rest. 

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra, Aditi Shah and Raphael Satter; Editing by Tony Munroe and Alexander Smith)