Theft of Intellectual Property at Volkswagen Took Place over Several Years.

[Publicly reported April 2024]
Suspected Chinese state hackers breached Volkswagen’s systems and stole sensitive information over several years (2010-2015), including details about gasoline engines, transmission development, fuel cells, and electric vehicle initiatives. At least 19,000 documents related to the company’s research and development were exfiltrated.

ZDF frontal and "Spiegel" were able to view more than 40 documents as part of an international cooperation on Chinese espionage activities in Europe
showing what the data thieves stole.

Estimated Cost

over 19,000 documents with intellectual property stolen

Threat Source

Impacts

IT