Hackers Stole Personal Info Of 57 Million Uber Users, Company Says
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The personal information of about 57 million Uber users around the world, including the drivers, was obtained by hackers last year, the company announced on Tuesday.
"In late 2016 we became aware that two individuals outside the company had inappropriately accessed user data stored on a third-party cloud-based service that we use," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a blog post on the company's site.
Khosrowshahi says hackers stole information including names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers. Uber says they have not seen evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident.
Other information, including trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or dates of birth were not obtained, according to forensic experts working with Uber.
However, hackers were able to download driver's license numbers of around 600,000 drivers in the United States. The company is providing these drivers with free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
"At the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorized access by the individuals. We subsequently identified the individuals and obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed. We also implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on our cloud-based storage accounts," said Khosrowshahi.
According to Bloomberg, Uber allegedly paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep the breach quiet.
"When we learned of the incident in November 2016, we took steps to contain and prevent harm, but we did not let drivers know. We think this was wrong, which is why we are now taking the actions we've described. We have seen no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident," Uber said in a statement.
Khosrowshahi says "two of the individuals who led the response to this incident are no longer with the company."
Drivers can learn more here.
Riders can learn more here.