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Reuters

Uber Technologies failed to disclose a massive breach last year that exposed the data of some 57 million users of the ride-sharing service, the company’s new chief executive officer said on Tuesday.
Discovery of the company’s handling of the incident led to the departure of two employees who led Uber’s response to the incident, said Dara Khosrowshahi, who was named CEO in August following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick.
Khosrowshahi said he had only recently learned of the matter himself.
The company’s admission that it failed to disclose the breach comes as Uber seeks to recover from a series of crises that culminated in the Kalanick’s ousting in June.
“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it,” Khosrowshahi said in a blog post.

According to the company’s account, two individuals downloaded data from a web-based server at another company that provided Uber with cloud computing services.
None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
The data contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world. The hackers also downloaded names and driving licence numbers of some 600,000 of the company’s US drivers, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post.
Bloomberg News reported that Uber’s chief security officer Joe Sullivan and a deputy had been ousted from the company this week because of their role in the handling of the incident. The company paid hackers US$100,000 to delete the stolen data, according to Bloomberg.
Though such payoffs are rarely discussed in public, US Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and private security companies have said in the past year that an increasing number of companies have made payments to criminal hackers who have turned to extortion.
No others are known to have suppressed breaches that required public disclosure, such as those involving protected personal information.
Sullivan, formerly the top security official at Facebook, is a former federal prosecutor and one of the most admired security executives in Silicon Valley.
Kalanick learned of the breach a month after it took place, in November 2016, as the company was in negotiations with the US Federal Trade Commission over the handling of consumer data, according to Bloomberg.

Uber representatives did not respond when asked to comment on the Bloomberg report.
The company’s failure to disclose the breach was “amateur hour”, said Chris Hoofnagle of the Berkeley Centre for Law and Technology.
“The only way one can have direct liability under security breach notification statutes is to not give notice. Thus, it makes little sense to cover up a breach.”
“The hack and the cover up is typical Uber only caring about themselves,” said Robert Judge, an Uber driver in Pittsburgh, who said he had not heard anything from the company. “I found out through the media. Uber doesn’t get out in front of things, they hide them.”
Additional reporting by The Guardian


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Uber

Uber admits cover up of hack exposing millions of users, reportedly paid thieves to delete data

Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured), chief executive officer of Uber Technologies, says he only recently became aware of the huge data breach that occurred under the stewardship of former Uber boss Travis Kalanick. Photo: Bloomberg

FILE - In this March 15, 2017, file photo, a sign marks a pick-up point for the Uber car service at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Uber is coming clean about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about more than 57 million of the beleaguered ride-hailing service's customers and drivers. The revelation Tuesday marks the latest stain on Uber's reputation. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 16, 2016 shows co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of US tranportation company Uber, Travis Kalanick at an event in New Delhi. Uber's ousted chief executive and company founder Travis Kalanick is asking for the dismissal of an investor lawsuit against him, calling it part of a personal attack aimed at sidelining him. A response on August 17, 2017 to a lawsuit filed last week by early Uber investor Benchmark Capital said the litigation was part of a "shameful" effort to remove Kalanick from any role at the ridesharing giant. / AFP PHOTO / MONEY SHARMA

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 25, 2015 shows an UBER application shown as cars drive by in Washington, DC. A driverless, electric car is only a swipe away in the cities of the future, where pollution clampdowns and rapid advances in technology will transform the way we travel, despite lagging infrastructure. As more and more countries announce a phasing-out of pure petrol and diesel cars, early versions of tomorrow's models are already on the streets: hybrid cars, fully electric motors and vehicles that can partially drive themselves. / AFP PHOTO / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

Travis Kalanick, the fall and spectacular rise of the man behind Uber

Travis Kalanick. Photo: Sam Tsang

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Michael Ovitz. Photo: Bloomberg

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Peter Thiel. Photo: Bloomberg

An Uber passenger in Beijing. Photo: Corbis

Travis Kalanick stands in front of a map of China as he speaks  at the Baidu World Conference in Beijing in September. Photo: Reuters

A driver in Beijing uses the Uber app. Photo: EPA

A Hong Kong Uber office was temporarily closed after a police raid in August. Photo: Reuters

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick quits as chief executive

Travis Kalanick. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO - Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Mumbai, India, January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Uber left highly vulnerable, as Kalanick joins top executive exodus

Travis Kalanick, now the former chief executive of Uber, speaks during the opening of "Startup Fest" in Amsterdamlast year. Kalanick resigned from his job this week, giving up on his effort to hold onto power as a torrent of scandals enveloped him and the global ride-hailing leviathan he co-founded. Photo: Bloomberg

(FILES) This file photo taken on June 14, 2017 shows an Uber SUV waiting for a client in Manhattan in New York City. Uber said June 21, 2017 that its embattled chief executive Travis Kalanick had agreed to step down from his job, as the company tries to clean up a corporate culture that has sparked charges of harassment and discrimination. Kalanick had already been on a leave of absence aimed at restoring confidence in the scandal-plagued ridesharing giant. / AFP PHOTO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / SPENCER PLATT

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Security chief is reportedly sacked over response to 2016 theft that new CEO admits included names, emails and mobile numbers of users around the world


Uber admits cover up of hack exposing millions of users, reportedly paid thieves to delete data

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Security chief is reportedly sacked over response to 2016 theft that new CEO admits included names, emails and mobile numbers of users around the world

Security chief is reportedly sacked over response to 2016 theft that new CEO admits included names, emails and mobile numbers of users around the world