Tuesday, November 21st 2017

Uber Hackers Make Away with Data on 57M Riders, Company Bribes Them to Stay Mum

The world's most popular ride hailing app, Uber, was hit by a cyberattack late-2016, with the attackers making away with user-data on over 57 million riders registered with the service. The worst part? Uber allegedly bribed the hackers to keep the hack concealed from the public for a year. The company allegedly paid them over $100,000 to keep the hack hidden, and to "destroy the stolen data."

The cyber-attack compromised personal information such as "home" and "work" physical addresses (which you may have saved with Uber), e-mail addresses, full-names, and phone numbers of over 57 million Uber riders; and even more detailed information, such as driving license numbers, of the over 600,000 drivers worldwide, subscribed to the service. It's not known at this point, if the stolen data includes more sensitive details, such as credit-card numbers of the riders, or bank account details of the drivers.
Uber is notifying drivers to have fresh driving licenses made after surrendering their existing ones, offering to cover the costs, among other identity-theft protections. There's no concrete information on how Uber plans to make good with the riders, whose real-world information such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers are stolen.
Sources: Slate, BBC, Washington Post
Add your own comment

7 Comments on Uber Hackers Make Away with Data on 57M Riders, Company Bribes Them to Stay Mum

#1
R0H1T
"Uber" sh**ty as ever :rolleyes:
Posted on Reply
#2
Chaitanya
paying off hackers is a very dangerous precedent to set.
Posted on Reply
#3
evernessince
How is this not illegal? They knew the data was stolen a long time ago and did nothing to notify any of it's customers or drivers. Why are companies in America continuously let off the hook when they constantly screw over the public? It's a joke at this point, companies have more rights and legal protection than any American citizen.
Posted on Reply
#4
Fourstaff
If it can be accessed from the internet it will be hacked.

Edit: I would like to add that even if it is not connected to the internet, it will still be hacked.
Posted on Reply
#5
Andromos
FourstaffIf it can be accessed from the internet it will be hacked.

Edit: I would like to add that even if it is not connected to the internet, it will still be hacked.
So if it exists it will be hacked/stolen haha
Posted on Reply
#6
remixedcat
lemmie guess, another equifax "diversity hire" ??
Posted on Reply
#7
Th3pwn3r
Damn, and Uber was just starting to bounce back after a PR nightmare...this isn't good.
Posted on Reply
May 15th, 2024 14:23 EDT change timezone

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