This Tesla Attack Wants Your Data — What You Need To Know

Forbes

20-04-2025

Beware this new Agent Tesla threat.
Tesla has undoubtedly been in the news a lot since Elon Musk started implementing the whole DOGE thing, leading to protests against the electric vehicle giant, including some that have been branded as acts of domestic terrorism by the Trump administration. This latest Tesla attack, however, has nothing to do with Musk or his cars, although it does bear some comparison with DOGE, as it does want information.
Here's everything you need to know about the new Agent Tesla malware attacks.
The primary goal of any threat campaign is to deploy whatever the payload might be, from infostealer malware, ransomware, to flash drive compromise. The secondary goal, I guess, is to do so without anyone being able to detect the attack and intervening to stop it. There is a case for switching those priorities around, as without the latter, the former isn't possible. But that is by the by. Sophisticated multi-stage attack campaigns are fast becoming the norm, not least as they will often use complex delivery mechanisms in the delivery of their payloads in order to evade detection and bypass traditional security protections. One such campaign has been reported by threat intelligence analysts from the Unit 42 research labs at Palo Alto Networks, and it delivers Agent Tesla malware to steal your sensitive information.
The campaign begins with victims being sent emails with attached archives. 'These archives contain script-based malware that ultimately infects a host with the final malware,' Unit 42 said, with the phishing lure apparently involving that old chestnut of reviewing an attached order document or invoice for a payment that had supposedly been made.
Opening this attachment executes a JavaScript-encoded file that downloads and launches a PowerShell script, executed from the system temp directory to increase stealthiness. There are then two distinct routes that the threat can follow: either a .NET executable or an AutoIt dropper. The type of malware that the user gets infected with will depend on which is used. 'By stacking simple stages instead of focusing on highly sophisticated techniques,' Unit 42 warned, 'attackers can create resilient attack chains that complicate analysis and detection.'
The Unit 42 threat intelligence researchers observed Remcos RAT and XLoader being deployed by this particular campaign, but said that multiple Agent Tesla malware family variants were also used.
Agent Tesla is a remote access trojan that is capable of harvesting all sorts of sensitive data, making it an extremely effective infostealer tool. The malware has been known to grab everything from usernames and password credentials to contact information and financial data, along with browser history, screenshot captures, data from email clients, and even keystroke recordings. Agent Tessa is also adept at intercepting communications, including email and chat messages.
According to Kriti Awasthi at Fidelis Security, you can mitigate Agent Tesla attacks by ensuring email security and phishing awareness, employing multi-layer security, regularly updating software and firmware against known vulnerabilities and using strong authentication and access controls.