Toyota and Lexus Dealerships Hacked, Millions Left Vulnerable

Toyota's servers in Japan have been hacked, leaving the data of millions left vulnerable.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Apr 02, 2019

Toyota has confirmed that as many as 3.1 million items of Toyota and Lexus customer data may have been breached following an attack on dealerships in Japan.

The company says that "information that may have been leaked this time does not include information on credit cards," but customers are already on edge following the cyber-attack that hit Toyota Australia in February. 

Notification about the breach was published in the company newsroom last week. The statement said that there was "unauthorized access on the network" of a number of dealerships in the Tokyo area of Japan on March 21. Up to 3.1 million pieces of customer data, stored on a server connected to that network, may have been compromised as a result. 

While Toyota insists that credit card data was not leaked, they did mention that names, birth dates and employer information might have been accessed.

"Toyota has leaked names, birth dates and employment information, which can easily become a basis for identity theft," Dan Tuchler, CMO at SecurityFirst said. "But as cars continue to incorporate in-car wifi, voice-based assistants, and automated driver assist, there will be a much larger digital footprint stored on a car maker's servers. Who knows what kind of data will be stored, or what hackers can do with it."

Cyber security analysts are not sure if the breach in Australia and Japan are linked, but Toyota has already said they will begin an investigation into the matter. 

"There's more to learn after this initial disclosure," Tim Erlin, VP, product management and strategy at Tripwire said. "Toyota will continue their investigation, no doubt, but whether further information is actually shared with consumers and the public remains to be seen."