The author | Mr. Dongguan Da
| Electric Guild
The safest car company in the world has been "hacked".
On November 30, the internet rumor that Volvo Cars was being hacked, which aroused the attention of the industry.
On December 10, Volvo Cars issued an announcement confirming that the company's servers had indeed been compromised by unknown attackers and led to the theft of some research and development information. "Although the amount of data swiped in is small, the lost information can have an impact on a company's operations."
In this regard, the outside world has raised many questions, what research and development information has been stolen? How will this affect Volvo Cars' corporate operations? Will it affect the security of the car owner's personal data?
According to the statement, the answer given by Volvo is that this hack will not pose a threat to the security of Volvo cars or personal data, and the company has taken corresponding security measures to prevent hackers from further obtaining its data property.
"We have informed the relevant authorities and are working with third-party experts to conduct an in-depth investigation."
While Volvo did not disclose more details, a gang called the Snap Ransomware has declared responsibility for the attack.
It is understood that the Snatch hacking group began to be active in the public eye in 2019, and the organization's website shows that they have now carried out targets, including Volvo and a series of other global companies.
We checked and the Snatch Ransomware site added an entry to its data breach site on November 30 about hacking into Volvo Cars' servers and stealing files. In addition to attaching screenshots of stolen files, the group released so-called 35.9 MB files.
Previously, AFP had contacted Volvo Cars on the matter to learn more details behind the attack, and Volvo said it would not comment on speculation about potential cybersecurity attacks, but would take seriously all potential threats related to cybersecurity and property theft.
You know, on October 29 this year, Volvo just completed its IPO, becoming the largest IPO event in Europe this year. The "black" incident caused its stock price in Stockholm to fall sharply, falling 3.5% to 72.44 crowns (8.00 US dollars, 7.06 euros) on December 10, local time.
Cybersecurity is an important part of global automotive development efforts and operations, and Volvo Cars has been actively involved in and contributing to international efforts on standardization and best practices, complemented by the implementation of industry-recognized cybersecurity recommendations.
As a volvo known for vehicle safety, it is now also missing the front hoof in terms of network security, which also makes people wonder, is smart cars really safer?
Many automakers believe that the current trend of computer-driven self-driving cars may open a devil's door for hackers. Because, that means, hackers will have the potential to take control of a car and cause some damage.
The consequences are unimaginable.
Just in April of this year, some network technicians showed how to hack the Tesla car system and try to control it. The men even demonstrated a drone carrying a Wi-Fi dongle, approaching the rear car to open the locked door and enter the car.
Although Tesla later issued a statement saying that they had fixed the bug with a software patch, it is undeniable that there are still no absolutely safe smart cars.
However, Volvo's admission to hacking also means that they refuse to compromise with the hacking group and are ready to bear all the consequences of the theft of R&D information.
In addition to being threatened by information security, the safety of Volvo vehicles has also been frequently questioned in recent days.
On November 30, a Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid new energy sedan caught fire and caused concern. In the afternoon of the same day, Volvo officials responded that the incident was true and the technical staff had rushed to deal with it at the first time, and the follow-up would announce the progress in a timely manner.
Just a week later, volvo brand new energy vehicles "spontaneously combusted" again. On the evening of December 8, a Volvo hybrid in Chengdu smoked in the garage.
From the pictures exposed by netizens, it can be seen that the Volvo S90 T8 parked in the basement at that time suddenly smoked without charging, the scene pictures showed that the vehicle was seriously damaged, the hood was seriously deformed and cocked, it is not clear whether the vehicle parked next to the parking space was affected, fortunately, the accident did not cause casualties.
As of now, Volvo officials have not spoken out on the matter.
Wave after wave of uneven waves, for several vehicle safety incidents that have occurred in succession, the outside world is generally anxious that the so-called safest Volvo is not safe?
In April this year, after stacking seven XC60s together in a Volvo marketing video, Yuan Xiaolin, its global senior vice president, calmly sat in the bottom of the vehicle and also video-called Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Automobile, to highlight volvo Cars' "safety performance".
Indeed, Volvo has always been synonymous with car safety, and they have the ultimate pursuit of car safety performance, which is not only reflected in the functional safety of the car itself, but also to ensure that the safety of personnel can be protected to the greatest extent in the event of an accident.
In today's era of the new four modernizations of automobiles, Volvo's pursuit of automobile safety should also be extended to the security of car and user information, navigation security relying on cloud connections, car active safety and battery system security.
As a global leader in automotive safety, Volvo's recent exposure of a series of safety issues is presumably a large wake-up call to this "new field".
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