If you're an Uber user, you may have been hacked
If you're a user of Uber, it's possible your personal information was hacked in 2016 without you even knowing. So that's, er, not very reassuring.
It's only just been revealed by the ride-hailing app that in October 2016 they suffered an enormous security breach which led to hackers being able to steal names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber customers around the world. Bloomberg reports the hackers also retrieved the personal information of around 7 million drivers for the company worldwide.
It's been reported that nobody's credit card information, bank details or dates of birth were stolen in the hack.
Despite the fact this happened over a year ago, Uber chose to keep it a secret from the public. However, the information has now been revealed after the tech company's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, opted to publicly announce it in a bid to reassure users he was making big changes.
"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Khosrowshahi said. "While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes."
The company's chief security officer Joe Sullivan has parted ways with the company following the announcement, the BBC reports.
While it's certainly concerning that our personal data has been leaked to outsiders without us even knowing, Uber's CEO insisted there was no "evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident".
Uber has refused to disclose the identity of the hackers, although it did confirm they paid them $100,000 (or £75,000) to delete the data.
The news comes in the midst of what's been, on the whole, a pretty dodgy year for the tech company. After being refused a licence to operate in London, one of its busiest locations worldwide, back in September, Uber is now in talks with TFL about what they'll need to do to secure this licence, enabling them to continue operating long-term in the capital city.
Let's hope 2018 is a better year for them, shall we?
Follow Cat on Twitter.
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