The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) reveals that the Volkswagen Group systematically collects movement data from hundreds of thousands of vehicles from the brands VW, Audi, Skoda, and Seat and stores it over long periods. The data, including information about vehicle owners, was also accessible on the internet without protection.
Volkswagen gains insights into the everyday ‒ and particularly the non-everyday ‒ private lives of hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners through this movement data.
Affected are not only private individuals but also fleet managers, board members, and supervisory board members of DAX companies, as well as various police authorities in Europe. For example, movement data from 35 electric patrol cars of the Hamburg police were collected and stored on the VW platform for third-party access.
Sensitive data regarding intelligence and military activities were also collected: among other things, records were found from the parking garage of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and from the military airfield of the United States Air Force in Ramstein.
The information collected by VW subsidiary Cariad includes precise details about the location and time of the ignition shut-off. The movement data is linked to other personal data, allowing for conclusions about suppliers, service providers, employees, or cover organizations of security authorities.
"The problem is that this data is collected at all and stored over such a long period. That it was also poorly protected just adds insult to injury," said Linus Neumann, spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Club.
Volkswagen gains insights into the everyday ‒ and particularly the non-everyday ‒ private lives of hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners through this movement data.
Affected are not only private individuals but also fleet managers, board members, and supervisory board members of DAX companies, as well as various police authorities in Europe. For example, movement data from 35 electric patrol cars of the Hamburg police were collected and stored on the VW platform for third-party access.
Sensitive data regarding intelligence and military activities were also collected: among other things, records were found from the parking garage of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and from the military airfield of the United States Air Force in Ramstein.
The information collected by VW subsidiary Cariad includes precise details about the location and time of the ignition shut-off. The movement data is linked to other personal data, allowing for conclusions about suppliers, service providers, employees, or cover organizations of security authorities.
"The problem is that this data is collected at all and stored over such a long period. That it was also poorly protected just adds insult to injury," said Linus Neumann, spokesperson for the Chaos Computer Club.
A detailed report was published today in SPIEGEL.
[1] https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2024/wir-wissen-wo-dein-auto-s...