Volkswagen CEO Hans Dieter Pötsch likely did not expect to ring in the new year with this news. According to German newspaper “Der Spiegel,” over 800,000 vehicles worldwide, half of which are in Europe, have been affected by a security flaw. This discovery was made by cybersecurity researchers at the Chaos Computer Club in Hamburg, Germany, who reported that the location data of hundreds of thousands of vehicles was easily accessible, threatening user privacy.
The researchers noted that some location data was accurate to within centimeters over several months. In addition to vehicle location information, sensitive data such as the names of vehicle owners and registration and identification numbers were also exposed. If fallen into the wrong hands, this data could have led to widespread panic throughout Europe.
“Der Spiegel” reports that cars in Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK were particularly affected, with the targeting appearing random and resulting from a bug in Volkswagen's data protection system. The Cariad subsidiary has made the necessary changes to address this data breach and corrected the bug weeks ago, with no evidence that any third parties exploited the security flaw. This incident highlights the risks of an increasingly connected world and the potential dangers of data leaks to personal privacy.
