Uber will pay 148 million for hiding a massive theft of data in 2016

Uber will pay 148 million for hiding a massive theft of data in 2016

The company paid the hackers $ 100,000 to destroy the information but did not alert users or drivers to what happened.

The Uber shared vehicle platform will pay $ 148 million as part of an out-of-court settlement, released on Thursday, for not disclosing to those affected a massive theft of data in the US and other countries in 2016. Two years ago, a A group of hackers illegally obtained the driver's license numbers of 607,000 Uber drivers, as well as tens of millions of emails and user phone numbers.

Upon learning of the theft, the Californian company paid the hackers $ 100,000 to destroy the information, but did not warn users or drivers for one year. It was not until last November when the new CEO of the company, Dara Khosrowshahi, made public what happened, and acknowledged that Uber should have notified the authorities immediately.

Although most of the stolen data corresponded to US drivers and users, the theft also affected Uber in the United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines.

Under the published agreement, the car-sharing company will distribute the $ 148 million between the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. This amount of money is the highest figure that a US company has ever paid as a legal consequence of having suffered a theft of customer or supplier data.