Covering up a massive data breach could lead to higher fines, says the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
Uber failed to tell the UK’s data regulator whether UK citizens were affected by last year’s data breach.
“Uber’s announcement about a concealed data breach last October raises huge concerns around its data protection policies and ethics”, said the Information Commissioner’s Office . “If UK citizens were affected then we should have been notified”. Concealing a breach can result in higher fines for companies that lose data, the statement added.
As well as failing to protect customer data, Uber acknowledged that it paid off hackers to cover up the breach. The ride-hailing company said Tuesday it paid $100,000 (around £75,000) for the unidentified hackers to delete names, email addresses and driver’s licence numbers of up to 57 million customers and drivers worldwide.
Uber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
