This week, researchers from Northeastern University, in collaboration with Consumer Reports, published an in-depth examination of connected vehicle privacy behaviors.
Utilizing nearly two dozen vehicles from CR’s test fleet, the team sought to answer critical questions: Which cars transmit data?
David Choffnes, project lead and former director of Northeastern’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, said the goal was to reveal the sheer scale of modern vehicle data tracking and highlight how little visibility or control owners truly have over it.
The results were stark: Every single one of the 21 vehicles transmitted data to at least one third-party domain over Wi-Fi.
Researchers were particularly alarmed by the pairing of a vehicle’s VIN with identifiable personal data, which allows data brokers to build detailed dossiers on individual drivers.