Many new vehicles come with flashy connected tech features that require a smartphone and app to function, but that process can leave behind a significant digital trail for the owners. Volkswagen and its associated brands (Audi, Seat, etc.) are now dealing with the fallout from their alleged mishandling of customer data, which involves hundreds of thousands of owners.
For months, VW owners’ data was kept in Amazon’s cloud storage system, which was unsecured and accessible to people who knew where to look. The information contains data on about 800,000 vehicles, with precise location data available for more than half of them. A significant portion of the data also contained personal information that could be linked to individual owners’ names and contact details.
The security fumble came thanks to VW’s Cariad division, which is charged with developing software platforms for EVs and other vehicles. Cariad is blamed for the Porsche Macan EV’s delayed rollout due to bugs, and it appears the group also forgot how to handle customer data in the process.
With so many customers’ data impacted, it’s not surprising to see that the problem has impacted some people in high places, including at least two German politicians, who firmly noted that they expect the automaker to rectify the issues. “I’m shocked,” said one, whose precise location data could be tracked for months. “I expect VW to stop this, collect less data overall and anonymize it in any case.”
[Images: Volkswagen]
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Source: The Truth About Cars
