Modern cars are constantly connected to the outside world. This makes them vulnerable to hackers who want to take control of the vehicle remotely. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have found that IT vulnerabilities have shifted from the car’s own computer systems to apps and cloud services connected to it.
"A car (and its app, if you installed one on your phone) can collect all sorts of data in the background with and without you realizing it. This in turn may be shared for a wide variety of purposes, including advertising and risk-assessment for insurance companies. The list of data collected is long and dependent on the car’s make, model, and trim. But if you look through any car maker’s privacy policy, you’ll see some trends:
Diagnostics data, sometimes referred to as “vehicle health data,” may be used internally for quality assurance, research, recall tracking, service issues, and similar unsurprising car-related purposes. This type of data may also be shared with dealers or repair companies for service.
Location information may be collected for emergency services, mapping, and to catalog other environmental information about where a car is operated. Some cars may give you access to the vehicle’s location in the app.
Some usage data may be shared or used internally for advertising. Your daily driving or car maintenance habits, alongside location data, is a valuable asset to the targeted advertising ecosystem.
All of this data could be shared with law enforcement.
Information about your driving habits, sometimes referred to as “Driving data” or “Driver behavior information,” may be shared with insurance companies and used to alter your premiums. This can range from odometer readings to braking and acceleration statistics and even data about what time of day you drive.. "
"If you drive a car made in the past five years, chances are it’s collecting reams of data about your driving—things like how quickly you accelerate, how hard you hit the brakes, and how fast you turn corners.
But many people don’t know that this data is being amassed—much less where it goes or how it’s used. "
US-centric links, but the info is broadly true for most western countries.
A car that requires an app is only marginally less crazy than a WiFi-enabled toilet (which exist unfortunately). The owner becomes the lojack in that case.
Not much to do about data being downloaded during a trip to the dealer. Some few vehicles have an aftermarket option of replacing the oem computer with a “dumber” version that works like old car computers did, which is to say it only has what’s needed for function and general diagnostics. That won’t be useful for most of us unless popularity explodes for such devices and they expand the range.
Some few vehicles have an aftermarket option of replacing the oem computer with a “dumber” version that works like old car computers did, which is to say it only has what’s needed for function and general diagnostics.
That is literally only one vector, so no, ripping it out doesn’t necessarily fix the problem (although it’s a very good idea).
The car itself is often collecting telemetry and reporting it back either via a live mobile link or when you get a service done.
https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-wheels-every-car-brand-reviewed-by-mozilla-including-ford-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/03/how-figure-out-what-your-car-knows-about-you-and-opt-out-sharing-when-you-can
"A car (and its app, if you installed one on your phone) can collect all sorts of data in the background with and without you realizing it. This in turn may be shared for a wide variety of purposes, including advertising and risk-assessment for insurance companies. The list of data collected is long and dependent on the car’s make, model, and trim. But if you look through any car maker’s privacy policy, you’ll see some trends:
https://apnews.com/article/auto-car-privacy-3674ce59c9b30f2861d29178a31e6ab7
https://www.gadgetreview.com/federal-surveillance-tech-becomes-mandatory-in-new-cars-by-2027
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/personal-information/how-to-stop-your-car-from-collecting-sharing-driving-data-a1233378612/
"If you drive a car made in the past five years, chances are it’s collecting reams of data about your driving—things like how quickly you accelerate, how hard you hit the brakes, and how fast you turn corners.
But many people don’t know that this data is being amassed—much less where it goes or how it’s used. "
US-centric links, but the info is broadly true for most western countries.
A car that requires an app is only marginally less crazy than a WiFi-enabled toilet (which exist unfortunately). The owner becomes the lojack in that case.
Not much to do about data being downloaded during a trip to the dealer. Some few vehicles have an aftermarket option of replacing the oem computer with a “dumber” version that works like old car computers did, which is to say it only has what’s needed for function and general diagnostics. That won’t be useful for most of us unless popularity explodes for such devices and they expand the range.
Source?
Which makes/models are those?