Connect with us

Tech

UK slams Uber with £385,000 fine for data theft

Published

on

UK slams Uber with £385,000 fine for data theft

Ride-hailing company Uber has been fined £385,000 for letting hackers steal data on 2.7 million UK customers.

The full names, addresses and phone numbers of users went astray in the 2016 attack.

The data had been stolen thanks to “avoidable data security flaws”, said the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Uber has also been fined 600,000 euros (£532,000) by data regulators in Holland over the same breach, as it also affected 174,000 Dutch customers.

Read also: Zuckerberg’s refusal to attend UK hearing forced seizure of documents, reports say

“This was not only a serious failure of data security on Uber’s part but a complete disregard for the customers and drivers whose personal information was stolen,” said Steve Eckersley, director of investigations at the ICO.

Uber had done nothing to alert people that data had been downloaded or to support people affected, he added.

Customers whose data had been stolen had been left at “increased risk of fraud”, he said.

The details on 2.7 million customers were part of a massive cache of information on 57 million people taken by the hacker group in October and November 2016.

Uber paid the attackers $100,000 (£78,400) to destroy the data they took.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now