Avis, the major car rental company, revealed that a cyberattack in August compromised the sensitive data of nearly 300,000 individuals across multiple U.S. states.

The data breach notifications, initially reported by BleepingComputer, do not specify what information was compromised in the cyberattack.

However, the letters indicate that the company identified the attack on August 5. The investigation showed that hackers had access to Avis systems from August 3 to August 6.

The company confirmed by August 14 that names and various personal information had been compromised. Affected individuals are being offered one year of credit monitoring services.

Breach notifications letters were filed with regulators in California, Maine, Texas, Massachusetts, Vermont and several other states.

Although the company did not respond to requests for details on the number of people impacted or the nature of the data compromised, a filing in Maine reports that 299,006 individuals had their data stolen.

Renters are alarmed by the incident, particularly due to the growing scope of data collection by car companies. With most people syncing their smartphones to cars, including rentals, large volumes of personal information are exposed to vehicles that are later handed back to companies like Avis.

Headquartered in New Jersey, Avis reported $3 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2024. It ranks as one of the largest car rental companies in the U.S. 

(The Image used in this post has been taken from usa.rentalcars4.com)