A Possible Data Leak Has Affected More Than 296,000 Records
The automobile giant has stated that its customers using the T-Connect service could be vulnerable to attacks. T-connect is a telematic service that connects vehicles via an online network. Toyota further stated that: The data leak compromised the email addresses and customer management numbers of customers who subscribed to T-connect after July 2017. In addition to that, it has assured that information including names, phone numbers, and credit card numbers were not affected by the attack. The company has not confirmed any unauthorized use of the data and has not relayed any information specific to Australia to date. However, the automobile giant said that the leaked data could be used by cybercriminals who want to exploit the situation by sending spam or phishing emails to affect users.
What caused the leak?
The leak actually occurred after a T-connect web development subcontractor uploaded some of its source code to GitHub “mistakenly”. GitHub is an internet code hosting and collaboration platform. What he did was he set it to ‘public’ which means that any third party who has a GitHub account had unwarranted access to this part of the source code. Toyota further stated that: The company said that it would begin to send individual notifications and apologies to the affected users. Furthermore, it had set up a dedicated call center to answer questions and concerns. The company even warned its customers of unsolicited emails by stating that: So, beware if you receive any suspicious email from any unknown sender. Stay tuned for further updates. Also Read: More Than 4 in 10 PCs Are Unable To Upgrade To Windows 11 – (phoneworld.com.pk)
