Hyundai data breach exposed customer info

Hyundai customers in Italy and France have received letters informing them their data was accessed in a recent breach suffered by regional branches of the South Korean automaker.

Unknown attackers penetrated Hyundai in Italy and France, accessing sensitive customer information, according to notification letters the company sent to affected customers.

According to the company, the attackers accessed servers with customer data such as emails, home addresses, telephone numbers, and vehicle chassis numbers.

Hyundai stressed in both letters that attackers could not get their hands on financial data and that the company has no reason to believe the exposed data was used for fraud.

“Although there is no evidence that the data concerned has been used for fraudulent purposes, out of extreme caution, we invite you to pay particular attention and to verify any contact attempt via email, post, and text message that may appear to come from Hyundai Italia or by other entities of the Hyundai Group,” the company said.

The South Korean automaker did not specify when the breach took place. However, Hyundai said the company launched an investigation once it learned about the cyberattack and informed relevant law enforcement agencies.

Threat actors have targeted Hyundai in the past, exposing some of the weaknesses in the automaker’s software. A team of researchers found a bug affecting Hyundai cars that allowed them to control a vehicle’s locks, engine, and other critical features.

The company had to also deal with another issue brought forward by a TikTok challenge, urging viewers of the post to steal Kia and Hyundai cars with instructions provided on the social network. In response both car makers were forced to issue an upgrade to 3.8 million Hyundai and 4.5 million Kia vehicles affected in the United States.