Toyota data breach due to ‘unintentional human error’

MANILA, Philippines — Automotive giant Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) said the data breach affecting users of its mobile app was due to an unintentional human error.

“Per TMP’s investigation, the security incident involves an unintentional human error and concerns the confidentiality of the data of the affected customers,” TMP president Masando Hashimoto said in a public advisory.

The data breach includes certain sensitive personal information, but not those relating to financial transactions.

Hashimoto said TMP reported the security incident involving the unauthorized disclosure of data of some registered users of the
My Toyota mobile app to the National Privacy Commission (NPC) on May 14.

He said affected customers were also immediately informed.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause our valued customers,” he said.

He said the company continues to investigate the security issues as it works with the government on the matter.

“Rest assured that we will continue to update the affected customers on the progress of this probe,” he said.

He also reminded users of the MyToyota app to be vigilant and cautious of potential privacy harms.

“Our customers’ trust is vital to us, so we continuously put additional safeguards in place to keep our customer data secure for our customers’ protection and make every effort to avoid similar incidents in the future,” he said.

Earlier this week, NPC said it was notified of the data breaches that hit TMP, as well as property developer Robinsons Land Corp.

NPC said both reports are currently under evaluation.