Voor Automotive schreef ik een stuk over digitale veiligheid in de nasleep van de Chrysler Jeep-hack.
Carmakers are increasingly wary of sharing data collected from their connected cars with technology partners, as Hans Klis discovers, preferring to safeguard the privacy of customers
Having your house broken into is a harrowing experience. Researchers being able to hack into and control a Chrysler Jeep owing to a vulnerability in the in-car internet service Uconnect – should be considered a similar violation, according to Audi Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler (See Protecting user data could be the best car sales pitch). “The Internet, cookies and other data collectors are almost common courtesy but a car today is a second living room – and that’s private”. That Audi isn’t selling their data – to some obscure North Korean agency or a big corporation that wants to spam you with the latest windshield scrapers – is a comforting thought for consumers driving around in the Audi A3 or the upcoming A4.
Of course Audi is not alone in wanting to preserve the privacy of consumers’ second living room. Competitors like General Motors (GM) agree fully with Stadler, as Connected Vehicle PR manager Stuart Fowle explains: “Customer privacy is and always has been important to us. We do not share data without direct consent from customers, as spelled out in our privacy statement.”
And the threat of cybercrime is being taken very seriously. Even more so after the Chrysler report, Ford said in a statement: “Ford takes cyber security very seriously. We invest in security solutions that are built into the product from the outset.” Although the company has not experienced a security breach as such, it is interested to learn from Chrysler’s experiences. At GM the safety of their vehicles is also paramount. “We continue to take steps to protect our vehicles from vulnerabilities”, Fowle says without revealing details for competitive and security reasons. “Cybersecurity is a global issue facing virtually every industry today.”
Lees ‘Customers’ protection comes before data sharing for carmakers‘ verder op TU Automotive.
