Icetruck.tv News Blog
Business

Hackers stole details of 57m users, Uber admits

4d4baa0300310d2a0da70435dc8663e1c8174a21b4b0626f1c692840c8357f0d_3972048
Uber's boss says there is no indication that journey details were stolen

Hackers stole data belonging to 57 million Uber users in 2016 – but the company kept it quiet, its boss has admitted.

The ride-hailing app's chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said two hackers had managed to download "personal information of 57 million users around the world".

Names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers were among the details stolen.

According to Bloomberg News, the embattled company paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep quiet, instead of notifying regulators and the people affected.

The names and driving licence numbers of about 600,000 Uber workers in the US were also compromised in the October 2016 incident.

Uber says it does not believe its customers need to take any action.

"We have seen no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident," says a help page on its site.

"We are monitoring the affected accounts and have flagged them for additional fraud protection."

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 7: Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Expedia, Inc., attends the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 7, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
'None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,' said Uber's CEO

Mr Khosrowshahi said the data had been stolen from a "third-party cloud-based service" and that "we subsequently identified the individuals and obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed".

The chief executive, who joined the company in August, added in his statement: "You may be asking why we are just talking about this now, a year later.

"I had the same question, so I immediately asked for a thorough investigation of what happened and how we handled it.

"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it.

"While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes."

Uber's boss has apologised
Details of the hack come as Uber fights against the loss of its London licence

The data breach comes as Uber looks to improve its image after bad publicity during the tenure of Uber's founder Travis Kalanick, and the decision by transport bosses in London to take away its licence.

Mr Kalanick was ousted as chief executive in June after an internal investigation concluded he had built a culture that allowed female workers to be sexually harassed and encouraged employees to push legal limits.

Uber's new boss said the company was now working with regulators on the breach and notifying drivers whose licence numbers were downloaded – as well as giving them credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

A review of its security is also taking place in conjunction with Matt Olsen, a former National Security Agency general counsel and cybersecurity expert.

More top stories

  • Previous article US Navy plane carrying 11 crashes into Pacific
  • Next article Police identify four men killed in mid-air collision


Source – News.sky.com

Leave a Comment