“According to a security notice published in the company’s Japanese newsroom, the data breach resulted from a database misconfiguration that allowed anyone to access its contents without a password.”
Toyota left location data for 2,150,000 cars open to anyone, no password, from November 2013 to April 2023. Video recorded outside the cars was exposed for nearly seven years. Toyota says it isn’t personal data, but a VIN is printed on every windshield. Last October it was a T-Connect access key sitting on public GitHub. Two leaks in seven months, a decade of tracking, and the fix is an apology letter and a call center.