Chinese-made rental cars recorded sensitive footage at Norwegian military exercise

Mixed · 2Chinese-made cars filmed sensitive information during a Norwegian military exercise, including access codes at secure sites and officials' comings and goings, AFP reported. 1 2 Mixed · 2During a security exercise at Oslo airport from 14 to 18 September, waiting soldiers tapping on their vehicle's screen discovered videos recorded by the on-board cameras, according to the newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN). 1 2 Centre · 1The recordings showed who was getting in and out of the cars, the routes taken and the codes used to open gates or doors to military facilities. 1

Mixed · 2DN, reporting three weeks after the exercise, said the footage came from rental vehicles, at least two of them Deepal cars made by the state-controlled Chinese carmaker Changan. Hertz Norge, which is indirectly owned by the Chinese group Geely, supplied them to the army. 1 2 Right · 1Home Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Per Gunnar Grosberghaugen confirmed that soldiers found videos from the vehicles' sensors stored in their systems. It is not known whether the recordings were shared with a third party, notably in China, and he could not rule that out. 2 Right · 1The military kept using the vehicles until the exercise ended because it had no alternatives, and the soldiers deleted the videos, DN reported. 2

Centre · 1The military judged that a general ban on Chinese-made vehicles would be disproportionate to the security gain. It said it preferred site-specific security procedures, with possible local bans on vehicles equipped with cameras and sensors regardless of their origin. 1 Mixed · 2Hertz Norge said it complies with Norwegian and European regulations. Marketing and communications director Hallvard Nerbovik said customers' data is safe and that no personal data from rentals is shared with manufacturers, owners or other third parties without explicit legal grounds. He did not specify whether the on-board videos may have been transferred, and Changan did not respond to AFP's questions. 1 2 Mixed · 2Andreas Skjold-Lorange of the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) called modern vehicles "rolling computers that collect information" and said, "We don't know for sure where the information is sent or what it's used for." He also warned against excessive dependence on one country, especially one that does not cooperate with Norway on security matters. 2 1

Right · 1AFP placed the case alongside other data-exposure risks. Tests for Oslo's Ruter transport authority found that Chinese manufacturer Yutong could theoretically immobilise its electric buses remotely through over-the-air updates, and Ruter has since added mechanisms to monitor and delay incoming signals. Strava data exposed military sites in 2018, and Le Monde located the French carrier Charles de Gaulle in March through a sailor's use of the app. 2