Digital Dealer - November 2019 - 28

M A R K E T ING & ADVERT ISING: Da ta & Anal yt i cs

By Dan Beres
Managing Partner,
Recall Masters

Connected Cars -
Whose Data Is it
Anyway?
I recently attended a
Connected Car Show,
and one of the most
interesting presentations
was cybersecurity for
connected cars - why we
should care and pay
attention to this topic. It was,
in fact, rather eye-opening.
For example, ponder this
data for a minute:
70M+ cars are produced
each year
The software in vehicles is
replicated
They all have the same
flaws
Across hundreds of thousands or millions of units

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NOVEMBER 2019

A single exploit can simultaneously impact ALL of
those units
So yes, it is something
that should be on the
radar of anyone in the auto
industry.
Just about everyone these
days has a smartphone. We
have our lives contained on
them. We input all of our
contacts into these devices.
Our phones also contain
our personal and business
emails. We have private
text messages. Apps we
download contain a ton of
personal information that we
input. Most of us have pass-

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

words, thumbprint or facial
recognition security in place
to protect that data. It's hard
to argue that this data isn't
ours, correct? We certainly
don't want anyone who
isn't authorized to access
it. It takes court orders via
subpoenas for anyone who
does not have expressed
permission to access this
data. It's more than personal
privacy - it crosses over into
areas of safety and security.
However, have you ever
thought about how your
cellphone tracks everything
you do, everywhere you go,
and houses a tremendous

amount of details about you?
Who has access to that
information? Your cellphone
providers (at the minimum).
Even if you were to turn off
all GPS and tracking on every app on your phone, the
cellphone provider would still
know where you are. Why?
Because they need to know
your location to connect
your phone to the nearest
cellphone tower, delivering
service to your device so
that it can operate correctly.
Now, let's rewind to the
topic of connected cars.
Today's modern vehicles
have an increasing number
of technological amenities
integrated into them that provide a wealth of information.
Services such as OnStar
relay vehicle condition
information, including tire
pressure warnings or alerts
about upcoming vehicle
service that is due.
What do those services do
with the data they retrieve?
They collect it and transmit it
to your "preferred" dealership. Now add in the newer
technologies, such as Apple
Play and Google Play. These
features are cool, but what
are they mostly doing? They
integrate your cellphone
information into your vehicle.
Yes, it is more convenient,
but it also adds to the data
that car manufacturers can
access.
I am pretty sure that
OEMs that know what the
oil level is, and the current
location of the driver, can
also access the cellphone
data which the consumer
(voluntarily) downloaded into
their car. Also, who owns
that data?
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Digital Dealer - November 2019

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