Hyundai Motor India fixes bug that uncovered clients’ private information


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 identify, mailing handle, electronic mail handle, and cellphone variety of Hyundai Motor India clients who’ve serviced their automobiles at any of the corporate’s approved service stations throughout India. The bug additionally disclosed automobile particulars, together with the registration quantity, shade, engine quantity, and mileage lined.

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

“We perceive the significance of safeguarding the information of our clients and accordingly attempt to create sturdy 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 client, 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, corresponding to logs, to find out any improper entry to a buyer’s data, nor would the corporate say if any unhealthy actors exploited the difficulty.

Safety researcher Ashutosh, who most well-liked to not be named in full, shared the small print in regards to the easy bug with TechCrunch. The bug uncovered the client’s private info by means of the online hyperlinks Hyundai Motor India shared with clients over WhatsApp after receiving their automobiles for servicing at a licensed service station.

The net hyperlinks that redirected clients to the restore orders and invoices in PDF recordsdata contained the client’s cellphone quantity. A malicious actor might 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 small print of the bug with Hyundai Motor India on the identical day, and requested Hyundai Motor India repair the bug inside seven days as a consequence of 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 had been not lively — 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 Could, the carmaker introduced an funding 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 automobiles.