On network breach, Uber says no evidence hacker gained access to sensitive user data
All of its services, including Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight, and the Uber Driver app are operational, the company said in an update.
Uber, which is probing a recent breach of its computer network, gave further updates on its ongoing investigation, saying, among other things, there is no evidence sensitive user data (such as trip history) was accessed during the hack.
“All of our services including Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight, and the Uber Driver app are operational. As we shared yesterday, we have notified law enforcement,” the company said in a tweet, adding that all of its internal software tools that it took down as a precaution are being restored.
The ‘cybersecurity incident’ occurred on Thursday, prompting the ride-hailing service to launch a response.
In a report, The New York Times said it was contacted by an individual who claimed to be the hacker, adding that the alleged hacker sent screenshots of internal Uber systems to the newspaper to demonstrate his access.
“I announce I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach,” read a message delivered to the San Francisco-based aggregator's staff shortly before the company shut down Slack, its internal message service.
How was Uber's computer network hacked?
The person, who told NYT he is 18 years old, said he posed as a corporate information technology person and sent a text message to an Uber employee. This worker was persuaded to handover a password, allowing the hacker to breach Uber's systems.
The 2016 hack
In 2016, the firm paid $100,000 to hackers who stole information from 57 million driver and rider accounts. It was able to keep the breach secret for more than a year. The incident resulted in Joe Sullivan, Uber's then top security executive, being fired from the job.
Later, Sullivan's lawyers argued he was ‘scapegoated’, adding that other employees were, in fact, responsible for the hack.
