Giant companies like Apple and Google have always been stressing on how secure their platforms are, and that it’s highly impossible for the database to be breached. However, hackers have proven them wrong time and time again, and the latest one to join the club is ride-hailing app Uber.
According to FMT, some 57 million passengers and drivers’ personal information from Uber’s database have been stolen by hackers. Perhaps the more shocking part was that this massive breach happened last year but a cover-up was done by Uber to prevent the news from reaching the public.
It was reported that Uber paid a lump sum of $100,000 (approx. RM412,450) to the hackers to destroy the stolen data and withhold the bad news. Which was why none of the riders and passengers were notified of their personal information being stolen.
The stolen files include:
- Names, e-mail addresses, and mobile phone numbers of riders
- Names and driver license information of 600,000 drivers
Source: Metro News
This incident only came to light after the new CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi learnt about the breach and decided to right the wrong.
“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,” Dara said.
Following the internal investigation, two members of the Uber information security team who handled the breach were fired from the San Francisco-based company after failing to notify the users.
“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,” he said, adding that failure to notify the consumers or regulators is not acceptable.
Source: CNBC
With the internet taking over almost every aspect of our lives, we can’t say that we didn’t see this coming. Anyway, we’re glad the new CEO has decided to be proactive about this issue instead of suppressing it even further.
Also read: Victims of Data Breach Shocked to Find Unknown Phone Numbers Registered to Their MyKad
