China has been continuously monitoring Volkswagen's electric vehicles for a period of 5 years

German media reveal that China spied on the Volkswagen automobile group for five years, stealing tens of thousands of confidential documents, including information on electric vehicles.

It's almost a habit. German media ZDF And Der Spiegel revealed on April 20 that the Volkswagen automobile group was spied on by Chinese state hackers for more than five years.

These facts, which occurred from 2010 to 2015, were brought to light after journalists obtained internal documents reporting these data thefts. Among the information recovered is information on electric vehicles, with harmful long-term repercussions for the group, which is operating in this niche.

According to reports, Chinese hackers gained access to the systems of several brands of the group, including Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley. The attackers mainly targeted data concerning transmission technologies such as gasoline engines and gearboxes, including dual-clutch ones. Other additional notes indicated that the infiltrations targeted the green mobility and fuel cell sectors. In total, the hackers are said to have copied 19,000 documents.

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Thomas Schaefer, CEO Volkswagen, with the ID.2all concept // Source: Volkswagen

Connections and malware attributed to China

China itself is not directly accused by the reports, but all ZDF and Spiegel sources claim that the trail leads all the way to the Middle Kingdom. “ We were able to trace IP addresses to Beijing, and even to the People's Liberation Army (Chinese army) », We can read in the article.

The spyware used, such as “PlugX” and “China Chopper” are two malware programs favored by Chinese state actors. Hackers' behavior, organized and coordinated teamwork-like connections are characteristic of the Chinese government's hacker methods. The Chinese embassy in Berlin dismissed the accusations as ” scandalous. »

Volkswagen ID.4 // Source: Volkswagen — Volkswagen is still seeking to establish itself in the electric market, at a time when China is already deploying a wide range of brands and models. // Source: Volkswagen

China remains the largest sales market for Volkswagen. The Wolfsburg-based company has long been the country's car sales leader. Last year, however, the automaker slipped to second place. China is, in 2024, the leading exporter world of vehicles, driven by its electric champion, BYD.

During his visit to China in April, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “ that at some point there will also be Chinese cars in Germany and Europe. The one thing that must always be clear is that competition must be fair. » Not sure the message is getting through.