Uber Paid Hackers $100,000, to destroy the Data of 57 Million Users
Uber paid the hackers $100,000
(roughly Rs. 64.8 lakhs) to destroy the data, not telling riders or drivers
whose information was at risk, according to a source familiar with the
situation.
Uber said that hackers
compromised personal data from some 57 million riders and drivers in a breach
kept hidden for a year.
Stolen files included names,
email addresses, and mobile phone numbers for riders, and the names and driver
license information of some 600,000 drivers, according to Uber.
"None of this should have
happened, and I will not make excuses for it," said a statement from chief
executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over at the ridesharing giant in
August.
Two members of the Uber
information security team who "led the response" that included not
alerting users that their data was breached were let go from the San
Francisco-based company effective Tuesday, according to Khosrowshahi.
The Uber chief said he only
recently learned that outsiders had broken into a cloud-based server used by
the company for data and downloaded a "significant" amount of
information.
Co-founder and ousted chief Travis
Kalanick was advised of the breach shortly after it was discovered, but it
was not made public until Uber's new boss Khosrowshahi learned of the incident.
"You may be asking why we
are just talking about this now, a year later," Khosrowshahi said.
"I had the same question, so
I immediately asked for a thorough investigation of what happened and how we
handled it."
Khosrowshahi said that what he
learned about Uber's failure to notify users or regulators prompted corrective
actions.
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