Last year, strangers were able to capture the personal data of 57 million Uber users. As a result, the Ride-Sharing service paid the attackers - to keep the hack secret.
Uber-Hack: In 2016, 57 million users stole data
As it became known, unknown hackers were able to capture personal information from 57 million Uber users. In addition, the attackers also gained access to the names and license numbers of about 600,000 US Uber drivers. Although the incident happened as early as 2016, it has just been made public by the ride-sharing service.
Instead of reporting the attack to the relevant authorities, Uber tracked down the perpetrators and paid them $ 100,000. For this money, hackers should keep silence and delete the data. According to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company's chief security officer and another employee have now been dismissed as a result of the incident. Khosrowshahi had taken over the post only a few months ago. The former Expedia boss came as a replacement for Uber founder Travis Kalanick, who had to leave the company after a series of scandals.
Uber: Former NSA man to judge it
In order to avoid incidents like this in the future, Khosrowshahi has hired security expert and former NSA adviser Matt Olsen. This should help to restructure the security team of Uber. In addition, the company wants to cooperate with the relevant authorities and offers the affected drivers free protection against identity theft.