By comparing this data with other data on the internet, it could have been linked in many cases with the names and contact details of the drivers and thus used for movement profiles, reported the news magazine "Spiegel". The "Chaos Computer Club" reported the security vulnerability to Volkswagen's software subsidiary Cariad.
According to Der Spiegel, Cariad spoke of a "misconfiguration". So far, there have been "no indications of misuse of data by third parties". There is no need for customers to take action, as no sensitive information such as passwords or payment data is affected. The data would never be merged within the Group in such a way that it would be possible to draw conclusions about individual persons or create movement profiles. According to Cariad, Volkswagen uses the data to improve batteries and the associated software.
(Report by Olaf Brenner, edited by Elke Ahlswede. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)
