Connected cars more vulnerable to cyber attacks

As the proportion of connected vehicles in UK roads increases, drivers are at increased risk of keyless vehicle theft or theft of personal data.

Currently, over two-thirds (67%) of new cars registered in the UK are connected and by 2026, 100% of new cars in the UK will be connected – suggesting scams are likely to rise without increased precautions.

The government has introduced new cybersecurity standards for connected vehicles – but experts believe drivers are still at risk from determined hackers.

Jonathon O’Mara, from CompareMyVPN said: “Even if basic privacy measures were put in place, anonymised data can be easily matched with other elements to break down any attempts to promote user privacy.

In addition, the car companies themselves can now collect huge swathes of rich personal data — mainly location-based and habitual movements. This also covers connected device activity such as calls made, messages and phone numbers, which for privacy-concerned individuals is quite alarming. 

"What we need is pressure from regulators and the cybersecurity industry to ensure that connected car data is both encrypted end-to-end to reduce any threat from a third party as well as what data is actually stored and kept.”