Tata Electronics launched an investigation into a cybersecurity breach on Monday after researchers said a ransomware group had published more than 200,000 files allegedly linked to the company, including what it claimed were confidential design and specification documents related to Apple and Tesla products.
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.
