Mercedes-Benz USA disclosed a data leak where the sensitive information of nearly 1000 customers and interested buyers were exposed.
- Sensitive data of current and potential customers were inadvertently made accessible on a cloud storage platform.
- The breach affects customers and potential vehicle buyers who had entered sensitive information on dealer and company websites between January 1, 2014, and June 19, 2017.
Mercedes-Benz USA disclosed a data leak where the sensitive information of nearly 1000 customers and interested buyers were exposed.
On June 11, a Mercedes-Benz vendor informed the company that the personal information of some customers stored on an insufficiently secured cloud storage was exposed.
The data belongs to individuals that provided their information to Mercedes-Benz and dealer websites between 2014 and 2017.
“It is our understanding the information was entered by customers and interested buyers on dealer and Mercedes-Benz websites between January 1, 2014, and June 19, 2017,” reads a press release published by the company.
A subsequent investigation determined that fewer than 1,000 Mercedes-Benz customers and prospective buyers were affected.
The carmaker revealed that exposed data includes self-reported customer credit scores, Driver license numbers, Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers and date of birth.
Mercedes-Benz immediately launched an investigation with the help of an external security researcher and pointed out that they have no evidence that any of the files were maliciously misused.
However, the company says, any bad actors would have required high-level knowledge of specialized software programs and tools. A casual internet search would not have uncovered the data at risk.
Mercedes-Benz USA said it has already begun notifying individuals and will notify relevant government agencies in due course.
Mercedes-Benz offers a complimentary 24-month subscription to a credit monitoring service to any individual who had credit card information, a driver’s license number or a social security number exposed in the incident.
This number was a fraction of the Volkswagen and Audi breach customers a few weeks ago. Volkswagen reported on June 11th that a data breach impacted more than 3.3 million customers.
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