Hackers have successfully infiltrated numerous organizations in recent years. Yahoo, Myspace, Target Corp., Anthem Inc., Equifax Inc., Uber Inc., etc., are a few of the popular companies that have been breached.
Uber Technologies Inc., has created many histories in the past and now has added one more to its list. The allegations range from harassment, toxic work environment to data breaches. Uber concealed yet a second huge global breach, where hackers obtained personal information of 57 million customers and drivers.
The breach came to light when the CEO of Uber Dara Khosrowshahi, publicly announced they had failed to notify individuals and regulators regarding the violation that occurred in October 2016. This is the second breach since 2014. This data was stolen by the hackers from the software God View, used by the employees to track passengers online.
It has been reported two attackers accessed Amazon Web Services that handled the computing tasks for Uber. The hackers used the login credentials they acquired from GitHub and later, they mailed the company demanding money.
Regarding the recent controversy, Uber confirmed to have paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the data and seal their lips about the breach.
“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,” said the Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi in a blog post.
Uber recently stated it had fired its Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan and aDeputy Craig Clark, because of their role in the handling of the incident.
“The hack and the cover up is typical Uber only caring about themselves,” said Robert Judge, an Uber driver in Pittsburgh.”I found out through the media. Uber doesn’t get out in front of things, they hide them.” he further added.
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have stated there is an increase in the number of companies who are paying criminal hackers to recover their stolen data.
“While I can’t erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes,” Mr.Khosrowshahi said regarding the breach cover up.
