Uber paid hackers to cover up massive data breach
Uber admitted it suffered a massive hack involving the personal data of 57 million users, and reportedly paid off the hackers to keep it quiet.
The breach took place more than a year ago and only came to light when new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi decided to come clean.
"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. We are changing the way we do business," he said.
Uber paid off the cybercriminals $100,000 to delete the compromised data.
As a result of the inaction, chief security officer Joe Sullivan and another executive have been ousted, Bloomberg reports.
The hack included names, email addresses and phone numbers of millions of drivers but not credit card numbers or personal trip details.
Companies have a legal obligation to disclose data breaches of this nature and Uber can expect a call from the Federal Trade Commission, and likely a heavy fine.
The breach was discovered at exactly the same time Uber was in discussions with the FTC over a separate customer data issue.
Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was aware of the hack just weeks after it happened.
"While I can’t erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes," Khosrowshahi added.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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