Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Uber says it’s investigating a ‘cybersecurity incident’

Welcome back

Uber hid data breach that exposed info for 57 million users

The company has inherited one more big scandal from its former CEO.

Jon Fingas
J. Fingas
 
Uber says it's investigating a 'cybersecurity incident'
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Uber’s new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has inherited yet another scandal from Travis Kalanick. The ridesharing firm has revealed to Bloomberg that it hid an extortion-oriented cyberattack which exposed the personal info for roughly 57 million customers and drivers in October 2016, including names, email addresses and phone numbers. Instead of reporting the hack to the government and users, it paid hackers $100,000 to delete the info and keep quiet for more than a year.

There’s no evidence the data was abused, Uber said. However, Khosrowshahi isn’t about to defend his company’s past behavior. “I will not make excuses for it,” he said in a statement. Accordingly, Uber has fired chief security officer Joe Sullivan and one of his deputies, senior lawyer Craig Clark, for playing key roles in covering up the truth. It’s also asking former National Counterterrorism Center director Matt Olsen for help structuring Uber’s security processes and has stepped up its fraud monitoring for the affected accounts. Drivers in particular are getting free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

News of the data breach underscores just how much of a challenge Khosrowshahi faces in rethinking Uber’s toxic corporate culture. The company was continuing its longstanding habit of ignoring the law even after it had just settled a New York state lawsuit over data security disclosures, and was entering talks with the FTC that would lead to a settlement over data handling. If it could face those kinds of legal threats and still decide that concealing an attack was more important than protecting users, it clearly needs major reforms.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics   

(18)

Report Post