Volkswagen reports that the information of more than 3.3 million of its US and Canadian customers is on the street after a leak at a seller. It concerns names, addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers, but the payment details of 90,000 people have also been leaked.
The group of 90,000 people concerns creditworthiness assessments, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth and buger service numbers. Volkswagen will release the information, but states that the problem lay with a selling party. The identity of that selling party is deliberately not mentioned in the letter, nor at the request of TechCrunch.
The data was accessed from August 2019 to May 2021 and was intended for use in sales and marketing. Volkswagen does not say how the leak could have arisen from a technical point of view.
The company will notify affected individuals, and those in the subgroup of 90,000 will be offered assistance and insurance against identity theft. It is also notifying the ‘applicable authorities’ and has engaged external security experts to handle the matter.