Research by Mozilla Shows Today’s Cars are Terrible, in Terms of Privacy

Today’s cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles are packed with features, many of which heavily lean on technology in order to operate. While these new vehicles and all their new capabilities are certainly appealing to today’s consumer, it needs to be said that one key aspect of technology has not been improved as these vehicles have been innovated upon.

That one key aspect? Security.

All Car Brands Were Found to Be Awful at Preserving Privacy and Security

Mozilla recently researched 25 car brands, all of which ranked terribly for privacy. Let’s summarize Mozilla’s findings briefly… and we apologize if this makes you reconsider your latest car purchase.

First Off, Mozilla Found that None of the Brands Met Their Minimum Security Standards

During their research, Mozilla found that—despite many brands publishing numerous privacy policies—none of them met the minimum standards that Mozilla expects, or at least, Mozilla couldn’t confirm that they did.

For instance, these cars contain a lot of personal information. Despite this, Mozilla was unable to confirm that this data was encrypted in any of the brands’ vehicles. Exacerbating this issue, most of the companies ignored their requests for more information outright, and those that did respond didn’t really answer their questions.

All of Them Collect Too Much Data, Most of Them Distributing It

Of the 25 brands that Mozilla examined, all of them collected more data than they needed in order to operate the vehicle’s features. That’s 100%, for those keeping track, that gathered personal information that wasn’t needed… and when you consider how many opportunities a modern car presents to collect data, there’s a lot of data that you might unwittingly be giving them. The fact that modern cars connect to a mobile device and can collect data from the services installed on it significantly increases the data that cars have access to, and that’s just the start.

Adding to the situation, most of the car companies—84%—also share the data they collect, with 76% selling it when they can. A little more than half (56%) will share this data with government officials by request—not court order, mind you, but just a request.

Drivers are Given Almost No Control Over Their Data

It’s important that consumers are given the ability to demand their data to be deleted. Unfortunately, 92% of the car companies that Mozilla examined wouldn’t allow drivers to do so… the only exceptions both being owned by a single company and only available in Europe, meaning that the General Data Protection Regulation applies, and they have to abide by deletion requests as a result. 

In Short, This Might Make You Want to Buy Used Until Car Companies Are Made to Do Better

Fortunately, when it comes to your business, you don’t have to compromise your security for added features and benefits. Not only can we help you get the most out of your technology, we can ensure that it is done with the security standards you need to remain safe.

Give us a call at (603) 499-4400 to get started, or to learn more.