Many of us use Bluetooth to connect our phones to cars, but a security expert has issued a warning to anyone who uses this feature – and it’s especially important for those who rent cars abroad

A cybersecurity expert has sounded the alarm for any motorists who use Bluetooth to connect their phone to their vehicle.

It’s common practice to enjoy music and take calls in the car through a Bluetooth connection, which wirelessly links devices over short distances. Travellers renting cars abroad, be it for leisure or business, often rely on this handy feature.

However, a TikTok user known as Mister Cyber, specialising in cybersecurity, cautions that pairing your phone with a car via Bluetooth can lead to unwanted personal data retention on the vehicle’s system unless you ensure its removal before handing the car back. In his TikTok clip, the expert advised: “Here’s a safety tip when you rent a car.

“If you ever sync your phone to the car’s Bluetooth make sure you remove it before you give the car back otherwise your phone’s MAC address and some other device info may be stored on the system permanently.” He emphasised this point in his post caption, stating: “Unsync your phone from rental cars before you give them back!”

While car rentals can greatly enhance the experience of overseas travel or a business trip, providing freedom to explore, few drivers are aware of the potential security risks when syncing their phones to such vehicles. Harry Anapliotis, CEO of Rental Center Crete, an esteemed car rental service in Greece, noted: “You can typically do everything with your rental car that you would do with your own car.

“But there’s one thing you should never do – a mistake that most people who lease cars make – that can have serious ramifications.” This warning comes from the car rental expert, cautioning against the risk of syncing your phone with a rental vehicle.

Given that our smartphones often hold a wealth of personal and sensitive data, including contacts, call logs, text messages, and media files, this seemingly harmless act could have significant implications. Harry explained: “When you link your phone to the rental car’s system, the car gets access to specific data needed for the connection-typically contacts, call history, and media libraries.”

According to Harry, every time you connect your phone, modern car infotainment systems store this data – a fact many users are oblivious to. The alarming part is that this information remains stored until manually deleted, something rental companies seldom do between customers.

This oversight means your contact details, call history, and other personal data could potentially be accessed by subsequent renters, rental company staff, or anyone with access to the vehicle’s systems – including cybercriminals. There’s a widespread belief that personal data is automatically safeguarded or erased when we disconnect our devices.

However, in reality, these vehicle systems retain your information until it’s manually deleted. This improper sharing of data poses a potential security breach, leaving rental car customers exposed to risks.

Harry pointed out a common mistake many individuals make when syncing their mobile phones to rental cars – failing to erase their data profiles before returning the vehicle. This oversight could result in “serious privacy issues down the line.”

To avoid such risks, Harry advised several measures to clear synced data from the rental car’s system.Firstly, users should disconnect their phone, access the car’s Bluetooth or Wi-Fi settings, locate the paired devices list, select their phone, and opt to ‘Unpair’. Additionally, to delete navigation history, users should navigate to the car’s navigation settings and clear their location history.

If a more comprehensive erase is desired, Harry suggested performing a factory reset. This involves accessing the car’s infotainment system settings and looking for options such as ‘factory reset’, ‘clear personal data’, or ‘restore default settings’.

After confirming the action, the system will be restored to its original settings. Other precautions recommended by Harry include removing cached data from the rental vehicle’s infotainment system, deleting the contact list, and checking the car’s system for synced data like call logs, texts, or contacts.

Harry warned: “The seemingly harmless and familiar act of synching your phone with your rental car can in fact expose a huge amount of your sensitive information to the wrong people. Things like your contacts, voice and text messages, passwords, user-names, GPS data, and even medical and financial information.”

He even noted that worry over this matter “has reached government levels”. However, he is confident that by implementing his advice and maintaining data security awareness, one can “reduce the risk caused by synching your device to your rental car to all but zero.”