Apple and Tesla trade secrets reportedly exposed following a Tata Electronics cyberattack

Up to 630GB of data was reportedly stolen by hackers, but Tata says its operations have not been impacted.

Tata Electronics has confirmed that it detected a cybersecurity incident in some of its systems. The Indian company is a manufacturing partner of both Apple and Tesla, and the incident may have exposed some trade secrets belonging to the two American companies.

The World Leaks ransomware group is said to be behind the attack, and it has reportedly posted up to 200,000 files on the dark web, including component designs and specification documents related to Apple and Tesla products. Tata Electronics told Reuters that its response protocols were deployed immediately and that the “incident has had no impact on our operations across businesses, which remain unaffected.”

The ransomware group reportedly sent a ransom demand to Tata Electronics, while Apple has launched an investigation into the incident. World Leaks claims it stole more than 200,000 files totaling over 630GB from Tata Electronics.

Some database files on the ransomware group’s website are titled "com.apple.factorydata," which could refer to Apple’s iPhone production operations in India. Moreover, some documents reportedly contain material specifications and quality inspection standards for iPhone circuit board components.

However, Apple is not the only affected company. A folder found in the World Leaks database is titled "NV36 Chargeport Controller - North America," which may refer to Tesla Model Y components.

Additionally, other files in the database reportedly contain drawings related to Tesla’s Project Highland, the internal codename for the EV maker’s updated Model 3 sedan. To support the authenticity of the stolen files, World Leaks has published documents containing footers that read: "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."

Cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told Reuters that the database also contains emails, event logs spanning several years, and passport copies of employees, including foreign nationals. Both Tesla and Apple have declined to comment on the scale of the incident.

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Posted Tuesday 23 June 2026 at 6:24 pm AEST (my time).

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