Chinese-made cars rented by Norwegian military automatically recorded and stored video footage during military exercises

Date:
Sat, 17 Oct 2026 22:20:00 +0000

Description:
Norwegian soldiers discovered rental cars had stored military footage and access codes, raising security concerns despite no evidence of deliberate espionage.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Dashcams captured soldiers entering vehicles, moving around, and typing security codes Military
personnel deleted recordings after discovering them inside the rented cars A shortage of alternative vehicles kept the cars in military use Rental cars used by the Norwegian army during an exercise in Oslo filmed soldiers and stored the recordings inside the vehicles without anyone noticing, reportts have claimed.

The clips showed troops getting into and out of the cars, their movements and locations, and gate codes they typed while facing the camera. Despite finding the footage, the military kept using the vehicles for the rest of the
exercise because it had very few alternative cars available. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Why the recordings alarm people Public sensitivity about personal data is already high, so any device that silently stores images of people attracts immediate scrutiny.

Soldiers typing access codes within view of a recording lens is a serious breach of routine security, whatever the nationality of the car's owner. You may like The 'Temu Range Rover' privacy trap: why it's not just Chinese cars watching you Made in China, flying for Britain: Who really knows whats inside our defense tech? UK Navy forced to strip out internet connectivity from drones after finding it sent 'heartbeat communications' to China

Gate codes protect restricted areas, so anyone who accessed the clips could have learned how to enter them without authorization.

The cameras were standard dash cams that soldiers had mistakenly left
switched on, so recordings accumulated in the cars with nobody reviewing
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Soldiers found the clips by chance while browsing the vehicle menus because they were bored, and they erased the recordings afterward. What the evidence shows about China's role The entire situation became a more sensitive topic after learning that the rental operator is part of a corporate chain that
ends with a company based in China.

The armed forces rent from First Rent A Car Norway AS, a Hertz-branded operator that supplies vehicles for daily errands, exercises and operational missions. What to read next US military troops can still be hit by targeted attacks despite disabling ad tracking on their devices and leaders aren't happy Major report says most car apps are leaking sensitive data to brokers Android car systems abused by hackers to launch new malware that pulls
devices into a hidden proxy network

Volvo Cars gained complete control of First Rent A Car Norway AS, but about 79% of Volvo Cars is controlled by Geely's Swedish holding arm .

Interestingly, that arm of Geely is entirely controlled by China-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

Although the rental firm belongs to Volvo, only two vehicles are confirmed as Chinese-made Deepals, and the brands of the rest are unnamed.

Ownership alone proves nothing about intent, so the question becomes whether Chinese services have the capacity and record to exploit such access in Norway.

Norways Police Security Service, the counterintelligence body, says Chinese intelligence and security agencies now possess greater capacity to run operations inside the country.

That concern has a recent case behind it, as police detained a Chinese
citizen suspected of aiding espionage, possibly aimed at the Andya spaceport.

Other governments have acted on similar risks, as Israels military barred Chinese-made vehicles from its bases and later withdrew official ones from officers.

Germanys military took a similar step, restricting phones, tablets and smartwatches for staff handling classified material because of espionage threats from Russia and China.

Yet all these cases involve other incidents and policies, and none connects Geely or the rental firm to the dash cams that recorded the soldiers.

No evidence has emerged that any recording left the cars, which makes a settings lapse by soldiers the more defensible explanation than deliberate spying.

Via Militaryni Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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