Elon Musk had ultra genius method for figuring out which Tesla employee was leaking info
- A Tesla employee leaked confidential information to the press
- Elon Musk took to X to explain how he unmasked them
- He used a little-known method known as a ‘canary trap’
Published on Dec 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Dec 19, 2023 at 5:30 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
Don’t mess with Elon Musk – a lesson that one Tesla employee found out the hard way.
In fact, the CEO of Tesla had a genius method to identify the employee who leaked confidential information to press.
Elon Musk wasn’t prepared to let the employee cross him without consequences.
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Tweets to Elon Musk from his 164 million followers don’t always go unanswered.
Somehow, even though he also runs Neuralink and SpaceX in addition to Tesla, Musk occasionally finds time to respond to other people’s tweets.
One tweet caught his attention and evoked a pretty juicy response.
Vaibhav Balghare (@NASAEarthMars) took to X to ask how he managed to catch the mole.
It was public knowledge that a Tesla employee was selling ‘confidential data’ about the automotive company in 2008.
Elon Musk seemed pretty proud of his method to unmask the data-leak culprit.
He summarised his genius method as follows on X.
“We sent what appeared to be identical emails to all, but each was actually coded with either one or two spaces between sentences, forming a binary signature that identified the leaker.”
The method is called a ‘canary trap’.
“It’s an effective method for exposing an information leak,” according to canarytrap.com.
“It’s a tool for detecting and plugging information leaks – a clever ploy to determine which canary is singing when under orders to remain silent,” the website said.
“A memo with sensitive information is distributed to several individuals (canaries), but the wording is varied slightly in each copy of the memo provided.”
“If the information gets leaked to anyone not authorized to receive it, one glance at the leaked text reveals which version of the memo was leaked — the source of the leak is identified.”
The weapon of espionage was made famous in the 1987 best-seller, Patriot Games, by novelist Tom Clancy.
Once the culprit was found, Musk surprisingly decided against legal action.
He claimed that he was “too busy trying to survive at the time”.
However this live-and-let-live attitude seems at odds with the caricature of a Bond-villain we think of Musk as today.
To put into context it might be worth considering that this happened during the worldwide recession of 2008.
Founded in 2003, Tesla was still in its infancy and was approaching bankruptcy towards the end of the year.
Musk certainly wasn’t able to absorb huge financial losses like he can today – sometimes up to $9 billion.
While charges weren’t brought, it’s worth noting that the employee did not come out of the situation unscathed.
The Tesla staff member was let go.
Elon Musk put it rather euphemistically.
“They were invited to further their career elsewhere,” he said.
This should serve as a stark reminder to Tesla employees: leaking information in the digital era is a risky business.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
