WOLFSBURG/HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) - Volkswagen's IT board member Hauke Stars believes the computer systems of Europe's largest car company are adequately protected even in the event of possible international data theft. "The business-critical data is located in our three centers here in Wolfsburg," the manager told the newspaper "Welt" in response to a question about whether there were risks of sensitive information being tapped by outside actors in China, for example. In Asia, an important data center of the group is located in Singapore instead of in the People's Republic.

As a general rule, "our colleagues work on protected systems and only see the data that has been released to them," Stars explained. "Thus, the Chinese state per se cannot access the data rooms. If a security authority in China could access our systems, we would have a big problem."

In the summer, hackers at the Dax corporation Continental - one of VW's major suppliers - had stolen huge amounts of data and then offered it on the darknet. Conti is continuing to investigate the incident together with the public prosecutor's office and has not yet wanted to say anything concrete about the damage or any consequences for customers. However, the Group's environment said that it was very concerned about the matter. Internal IT processes and structures are now being thoroughly examined.

It is "difficult to say" whether a similar attack on this scale could have affected Volkswagen, Stars said. "We must always be vigilant, because there is no such thing as absolute security." He added that the company is in close contact with Continental and is evaluating "the extent to which Volkswagen AG data is affected." This will take some time, he said. So far, there are no indications that the hack at the major supplier has consequences for customers or vehicles of the VW Group, he said.

Stars had recently pointed out the high demand for more IT specialists at Volkswagen and in the German economy as a whole./jap/DP/stw