The ride-hailing app Uber has admitted that 2.7 million people in the UK were affected by a data breach that occurred in 2016. This is after it emerged that the company covered up the hack for over a year with details coming to light after Bloomberg reported that the company paid hackers a ransom amounting to £75,000 to keep the details under wraps. Globally, the hacking affected an estimated 57 million users and drivers.
A spokesperson for Uber said, “In October 2016, Uber experienced a data security incident that resulted in a breach of information related to rider and driver accounts.
"For riders, this information included the names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers related to accounts globally.”
The company confirmed that trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or dates of birth belonging to the users were not downloaded by the hackers.
Following this revelation, Transport for London (TfL) has launched an investigation to assess the extent of damage caused by the hackers. The transport regulator warned Uber that further secrecy would lead to higher fines.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “This latest shocking development about Uber will alarm millions of Londoners whose personal data could have been stolen by criminals.
“Uber needs to urgently confirm which of their customers are affected, what is being done to ensure these customers don’t suffer adversely, and what action is being taken to prevent this happening again in the future.
“The public will want to know how there could be this catastrophic breach of personal data security.”
The number of Londoners affected by the breach is unknown however, more than half of its users in the UK have been affected.
This is the latest in a series of woes faced by the company as it fights to restore its operating license in London following a revocation by London’s Transport regulator, TfL.