‘Source of data’: are electric cars vulnerable to cyber spies and hackers?

Electric cars have myriad ways of generating data that is of interest to hostile states, one expert says. Photograph: Ying Tang/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Mobile phones and desktop computers are longstanding targets for cyber spies – but how vulnerable are electric cars?

On Monday the i newspaper claimed that British defence firms working for the UK government have warned staff against connecting or pairing their phones with Chinese-made electric cars, due to fears that Beijing could extract sensitive data from the devices.