South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has disclosed a data breach impacting Italian and French customers and those who booked a test drive. The hackers gained access to personal data, including email and physical addresses, telephone numbers and vehicle chassis numbers according to the notice sent to affected users.
The letter goes on to clarify that hackers did not steal financial data or customer identification information from the Hyundai databases. The company has stated that its IT experts are working in response to the incident and the impacted systems have been taken offline until additional security measures are put into place.
Additionally, it has also warned customers to be wary of any emails or SMS texts claiming to be from the company, as they could very well be phishing attempts. Hyundai has also informed data protection authorities in the two countries.
The breach notification sent to customers did not have any information on the number of affected customers, how long the intrusion lasted, the attack vector or what other countries might be affected.
Hyundai has had a rough time lately dealing with cybersecurity issues. The carmaker sells nearly half a million cars annually in Europe and has a market share of nearly 3% in France and Italy.
Only recently, in February 2023, it rolled out an emergency update fixing an issue on several car models that allowed thieves to use a USB cable to steal cars. Further back in December 2022, Hyundai cars (in addition to the ones from Genesis) were affected by a bug in its app that allowed remote attackers to unlock and start the impacted cars, amounting to a full remote takeover or exposing car owner information.
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