A leak at Volkswagen software subsidiary Cariad exposed customer data from around 800,000 electric cars for months, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel.
Several terabytes of data about VW, Seat, Audi, and Skoda cars in Europe and other parts of the world were publicly accessible via Amazon cloud storage. Exposed information included the owners’ names and contact details and the precise location of nearly 460,000 EVs.
An ethical hacking group called Chaos Computer Club (CCC), which received the information from a whistleblower, brought the unprotected data to Cariad’s attention on Nov. 26, according to Bleeping Computer.
In a statement provided to German news agency DPA, the VW group said the error is fixed and that no sensitive information, such as passwords or payment data, was leaked. Exposed data focused on charging behavior and charging software from vehicles that were registered for online services and had online connectivity enabled. Cariad also told Bleeping Computer that access to the exposed data was blocked the same day CCC brought it to their attention, and VW says only CCC accessed the data, though it’s still analyzing the incident.
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As News reports, the VW group established Cariad in 2020 to develop in-car software services that could help it make money (and compete with Tesla).
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