Hyundai Motor India fixes bug that exposed customers’ personal data

Hyundai’s India subsidiary has mounted a bug that uncovered its clients’ private info within the South Asian market.

TechCrunch reviewed a portion of the uncovered information that included the registered proprietor title, mailing handle, electronic mail handle, and cellphone variety of Hyundai Motor India clients who’ve serviced their autos at any of the corporate’s licensed service stations throughout India. The bug additionally disclosed car particulars, together with the registration quantity, colour, engine quantity, and mileage lined.

In a cellphone dialog on Thursday, Hyundai Motor India spokesperson Siddhartha P. Saikia stated the corporate would offer a press release. When shared by electronic mail, the assertion stated:

“We perceive the significance of safeguarding the info of our clients and accordingly try to create strong methods and processes. Additional, these methods get periodically reviewed and up to date primarily based on wants. The Restore Order/Bill hyperlink is shared solely on the cell quantity registered by the shopper, as soon as they’ve opted in to obtain such updates. These are system-generated hyperlinks with none human involvement. Hyundai assures continued efforts to safeguard the curiosity of the shoppers.”

Hyundai Motor India didn’t reply questions on whether or not it had the technical means, resembling logs, to find out any improper entry to a buyer’s information, nor would the corporate say if any dangerous actors exploited the problem.

Safety researcher Ashutosh, who most well-liked to not be named in full, shared the main points concerning the easy bug with TechCrunch. The bug uncovered the shopper’s private info by the online hyperlinks Hyundai Motor India shared with clients over WhatsApp after receiving their autos for servicing at a licensed service station.

The online hyperlinks that redirected clients to the restore orders and invoices in PDF recordsdata contained the shopper’s cellphone quantity. A malicious actor may expose the data of different clients by altering the cellphone quantity within the hyperlink.

TechCrunch confirmed the researcher’s findings and emailed Hyundai Motor India on December 29. The corporate responded on January 4. TechCrunch shared the main points of the bug with Hyundai Motor India on the identical day, and requested Hyundai Motor India repair the bug inside seven days resulting from its simplicity and severity. Hyundai Motor India mounted the bug on Thursday.

Upon receiving the corporate’s response, TechCrunch confirmed the bug was mounted, and the hyperlinks in concern have been not energetic — redirected to a web page giving an error message.

Established in 1996, Hyundai Motor India is among the many prime three carmakers within the nation, alongside Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors. Hyundai Motor India has a community of over 1,500 service stations within the nation. In Might, the carmaker introduced an investment of $2.45 billion (200 billion Indian rupees) over the following 10 years within the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to bolster its plans for electrical autos.