Toyota does U-turn, confirms thousands of Australian customers hit by latest data breach

A fortnight after its most recent customer data breach in Japan, Toyota Australia has confirmed the details of almost 3000 local owners were exposed in the technology hack.

Japanese car giant Toyota has confirmed customers in Australia have been caught up in last month’s data breach of more than 2 million customers globally.

Toyota Australia has today confirmed approximately 2800 local customers had their data accessed by computer hackers.

It Toyota Japan’s second major data breach in six months; last year the personal details of more than 300,000 customers were accessed.

News agency Reuters reports, in the latest computer hack, the vehicle data of 2.15 million Toyota customers in Japan – almost all owners who signed up for the company’s cloud services from 2012 – had been “publicly available for a decade due to human error”.

After initially saying Toyota customers in Australia were not affected, the company has since done a U-turn.

However, today Toyota Australia issued the following statement: “On 12 May 2023, Toyota Motor Corporation confirmed the vehicle data of some users in Japan had been publicly accessible due to an error in the configuration of a cloud-based database.

“At the time of that notification, it was our understanding no Australian data was included but, upon continued investigation, we now know that a … number of Australian records have been impacted.

“Our investigations have found no evidence the data has been accessed, and we have concluded the probability is extremely low that any third party could have accessed it.

“While the data may include vehicle information, as well as some personal information such as names and some contact information, no personal financial details are included.

“Toyota Australia recognises the concern this may cause to our customers, and we are working to contact directly those impacted to advise them of the situation, and to detail the measures we have taken to ensure the security of our systems and their data.

“We continue to liaise with Toyota head office in Japan, and we will provide updates should additional information become available.”

Any Toyota customers who have signed up to the company’s ‘cloud-based’ services or data tracking can contact Toyota customer assistance to see if and how they are affected by calling 1800 869 682.

The post Toyota does U-turn, confirms thousands of Australian customers hit by latest data breach appeared first on Drive.