Swedish car giant Volvo has confirmed it has suffered a security breach, with internal company data thought to have been affected.
In a statement, the company said that it had "become aware that one of its file repositories has been illegally accessed by a third party."
Volvo says an initial investigation into the breach suggests that "a limited amount" of company's R&D information has been stolen, and that this could have an effect on its overall operations.
Volvo security breach
"After detecting the unauthorised access, the company immediately implemented security countermeasures including steps to prevent further access to its property and notified relevant authorities," Volvo's statement added.
"Volvo Cars is conducting its own investigation and working with third-party specialist to investigate the property theft. The company does not see, with currently available information, that this has an impact on the safety or security of its customers' cars or their personal data."
Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo has production plants located around the world, including facilities in Belgium, China and the US. It also has three R&D and design centres in Gothenburg, Camarillo (US) and Shanghai (China) - one of which may have been the victim of the newly-revealed attack.
The company has yet to reveal any more specifics on the nature of the incident, what data was taken, or even which office or system it was stolen from, but we will update this story if more information becomes available.
