Volkswagen comes under fire for major data leak exposing driver location

Volkswagen Group has come under scrutiny after a significant data leak reportedly exposed sensitive customer information online for several months.

The incident, linked to its software subsidiary Cariad, has raised concerns over the oversight of data collection in the industry as vehicles becoming increasingly reliant on software and connectivity.

According to reports by Der Spiegel, the leak compromised location data for approximately 800,000 electric Volkswagen vehicles. and allowed potential tracking of a driver’s exact movements.

The affected data, housed on Amazon’s AWS cloud storage, included information such as when vehicles were switched on and off, as well as driver emails, phone numbers, and addresses.

Critically, location data was reportedly “accurate to within ten centimetres” for Volkswagen and Seat vehicles and within 10km for Audi and Skoda models.

The breach was discovered by a whistleblower who alerted Der Spiegel and the European hacking association Chaos Computer Club.

Cariad has since rectified the issue and has assured customers that the issue has been addressed, insisting that sensitive financial information was not at risk.