Uber concealed data hack from 2016; 57 million customers affecte - WECT TV6-WECT.com:News, weather & sports Wilmington, NC

(RNN) – Hackers stole data from Uber in 2016 on 57 million customers and drivers, Uber’s CEO announced Tuesday.

The third-party cloud service containing user data was breached, but the company thinks that information pertaining to credit card numbers, bank accounts, Social Security numbers nor trip history were breached.

However, some personal information of 57 million users around the globe, such as email address and mobile phone numbers were compromised. This includes names and driver’s license numbers of about 600,000 drivers in the U.S.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company is notifying the drivers who were compromised and offering them fraud protection.

A spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he launched an investigation Tuesday into the hack, Bloomberg reports. 

The company states that passengers do not need to take any action, but encourage everyone to monitor their accounts and credit report.

Khosrowshahi said in a statement that he has asked for an investigation into why the company waited a year to notify people who were affected or regulators. Federal laws and some state laws require companies to notify government agencies and customers if data breaches occur. The company failed to do so.

“None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. While I can’t erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes,” he said in a statement.

According to Bloomberg, the former CEO, Travis Kalanick knew about the breach a month after it happened in 2016.

The ride-sharing company was negotiating with the Federal Trade Commission on how it handled consumer data and settled a lawsuit with the New York attorney general over data security disclosures.

Uber hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel at the National Security Agency and director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to restructure the company's security team. 

If you see anything unusual with your account, go to your app, tap “help,” then go to “account and payment options,” tap “I have an unknown charge,” then tap “I think my account has been hacked.”

The data breach comes just after Uber was hit with an $8.9 million fine in Colorado for hiring drivers with criminal records.

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