auto news desk, A big case of data theft has come to light in the auto sector. Toyota said that the data of its 21.5 lakh customers remained in the public domain for 10 years. This data was available to all from November 2013 till April this year. Anyone can misuse the customer’s data. However, the company clarified that there has been no tampering with customer data. Let us tell you that Toyota is the world’s largest vehicle selling company. The risk of data leak was seen in the system of an auto company which is the world’s number one company in terms of vehicle sales. The Japanese company provides services like automatic driving and artificial intelligence based features. However, the data of more than 21 lakh users being open to everyone for 10 years is indeed a big event.
cloud system failure
Customer data was left exposed due to a glitch in the settings of Toyota’s cloud system. In this, details like the location of the vehicles and the identification number of the vehicles were in front of everyone. The company said it has not received any reports of data misuse. The data leak affected customers who had signed up for T-Connect network service from early 2012 till April 2017. Toyota has apologized to customers regarding the data breach. Customers of Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus have also suffered a data breach. The data of customers using G-Link remained open.
human error error
A Toyota spokesperson said the incident was caused by human error. Because of this the cloud system was set to be public rather than private. He further informed that the company will introduce a system for continuous audit and monitoring of cloud settings. The matter has been reported to the Personal Information Protection Commission of Japan. According to media reports, keeping the tradition of not speaking in private matters, the commission has not said anything on Toyota’s case as well.
Major incidents of data leak in Japan
However, Toyota says that external access was closed after the fault was detected. In addition, all cloud systems managed by Toyota Connected Corp. will be examined. Let us tell you that big incidents of personal data leaks keep coming up in Japan. Mobile carrier company NTT DoCoMo said in March that data of 52.9 lakh customers could be leaked. This has happened through a company doing outsourcing work for the telecom company.