Uber Data Breach Put 50000 Drivers Info at Risk
A data breach at Uber last spring put tens of thousands of drivers' personal information at risk, the company said late Friday. Uber said it first realized its systems may have been breached by a third party in September of last year. After an investigation, the company found an "unauthorized access" by a "third party" occurred on May 13 of last year, which resulted in the names and license numbers of 50,000 drivers being leaked. The car-hailing company didn't specify who the third party was. However, Uber says it has since blocked further access to the database in question as well as alerted affected drivers. Uber isn't yet aware of any identify theft or other foul play as a result of the breach. It's also offering one year of fraud protection to the drivers involved. "Uber takes seriously our responsibility to safeguard personal information, and we are sorry for any inconvenience this incident may cause," a blog post from Uber Managing Counsel of Data Privacy Katherine Tassi said. "In addition, today we filed a lawsuit that will enable us to gather information to help identify and prosecute this unauthorized third party."