Renault data amd motability

Sncjw

Hi 

I got an email from renault tonight saying there's been a cyber attack and my data has been taken. They cant say what has been taken but can included 

First name & surname
•	Date of birth
•	Gender
•	Phone number
•	Email address
•	Postal address
•	Vehicle Identification Number
•	Vehicle registration number I am now worried what had been taken and I am also a motability customer. I am worried they could use all this data to make fraud claims or even track or attack the car oe house.  Would i be able to get a different car thro8gh motab because of this?

pramsay13

Why would having more details about you lead to tracking or attacking the car or house?
Lots of people have their information stolen fairly regularly from large companies and nothing much happens. 
The advice generally is to keep a closer eye on your financial data and credit reports for a bit. 

WellKnownSid

Unless you've been living off-grid, I'm pretty confident your personal data will have been stolen many, many times before.

No-one is going to give you a free car because of it.

Herzlos

I don't think there's enough information included for fraud, though it'll be worth keeping an eye on your credit reports and you'll probably get more spam emails and letters.

There isn't really anything they can do with the car registration details, and they are unlikely to visit the house. There's no benefit in attacking either and they may not even live in the UK.

The only thing they could potentially do is clone the plates if they have another similar Renault but that's pretty unlikely.

LzzyIsGod

I've also had the same email despite never having ever owned this make of car or ever visited a Renault garage. Initially I thought it was a scam.

Goudy

I have the same email and it appears the data has been taken from a third party, so some other company Renault gives our data for them to do work for Renault UK has been attacked.

It's a common occurrence, companies outsource certain parts of their business which obviously involves certain data like ours and these tend to be weak areas for data breaches.
It's not the first time either, I believe there was an incident in Feb this year involving Renault, Facebook and AWS.

More often than not the data is taken to extort money from the companies involved and not from those included in the data, but down the line that data might be sold on to others than might try using that personal data directly.

This is worth baring in mind as it might be weeks or months before this happens and you will have probably forgotten about the whole incident when you start getting a lot of spam emails and calls.

The data is worth more the fresher it is as lots of people move, change cars, change mobile numbers and even change gender, so it stands to reason the most persistent, sophisticated attempts start sooner and the sloppy chance emails later as the data gets older.

Unfortunately all you can do is be vigilant, but you should obviously be doing that anyway.
This is just an incident you know about, there will be dozens if not hundreds of other incidents involving your data that you just don't know about.

All you are likely to get from Renault is an apology, which you and me have already got. 

beckstar1975

I also don't drive and don't own a car so was really confused to receive this email, I've not knowingly signed up to anything Renault in my life! Interested to see I'm not the only one.

facade

pramsay13 said:

Why would having more details about you lead to tracking or attacking the car or house?
Lots of people have their information stolen fairly regularly from large companies and nothing much happens. 
The advice generally is to keep a closer eye on your financial data and credit reports for a bit. 

If you know the VIN number, and you happen to have all of Renaults database, you can produce a key. It won't start the car as it will need coding (trivial once you are inside with access to the OBD port).  Not much risk with a Renault tbh. (If it were something highly desirable someone could target the house for the keys, even if it was parked on the street to confuse them)

A bigger risk is cloning the numberplate for an otherwise identical vehicle. The cloner (possibly a banned driver) can give the "correct" details if stopped, as well as not having to bother paying insurance & tax....

When our water company gave away all our details to the first hacker who asked, they fobbed us off by paying a years subscription to a credit check company, that notifies you if anyone tries to take out a new card, or arrange credit in your name.

Best we could hope for tbh, as until there is an actual loss that can be directly linked to their incompetence and lax security there is nothing to compensate for.

Mildly_Miffed

Sncjw said:

I got an email from renault tonight saying there's been a cyber attack and my data has been taken. They cant say what has been taken but can included 

• First name & surname
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Phone number
• Email address
• Postal address
• Vehicle Identification Number
• Vehicle registration number

I am now worried what had been taken and I am also a motability customer. I am worried they could use all this data to make fraud claims or even track or attack the car oe house. 

Would i be able to get a different car thro8gh motab because of this?

Every time the car is in a public place, the registration is available to everybody.
Every time you leave the car parked in public, the VIN is available to every passer-by who can be bothered to look at the windscreen.
Every time you leave it parked outside your house, it can be easily linked to your address.
Your name, DOB, phone, email are already circulating from a myriad of other data breaches.

Why do you think changing the car will take ANY of that away from circulation?

What do you think the data could be used for?

Mildly_Miffed

facade said:

If you know the VIN number, and you happen to have all of Renaults database, you can produce a key. It won't start the car as it will need coding (trivial once you are inside with access to the OBD port).

I wonder when the last new car was sold *without* a visible VIN in the windscreen corner?

Grey_Critic

Talk to Motability - It is their vehicle,