Cyber security chief slams Uber for not revealing Aussies impacted in data breach
Australia's cyber security advisor has slammed Uber for not revealing how many Australians were impacted in a massive data breach.
On Tuesday, the company's new chief executive officer said the ride sharing company failed to disclose the breach that allowed hackers to steal the personal data of 57 million customers.
Special Advisor to the PM on Cyber Security Alastair MacGibbon has criticised Uber for continuing to conceal information after burying the breach for a year.
"Unfortunately they have not given us the courtesy of telling us how many Australians have been impacted," he told Sunrise.
"We do not know if it is all Australian users or just a handful. We do not know."
Mr MacGibbon said numbers, email addresses and names have been impacted but not credit card numbers.
"We do not know because it has not been well handled by them. I would urge them to tell us how many Australians have been affected," he said.
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Mr MacGibbon agreed there should be a corporate law introduced to have big companies disclose when customer information has been hacked.
"This creates a level playing field for us all," he said. "We are seeing more of these breaches so we have to get better at handling them and communicating about them.
"It is disappointing that they have not told us how many people have been affected."
The company's admission that it failed to disclose the breach comes as Uber is seeking to recover from a series of crises that culminated after founder Travis Kalanick left in June.
According to the company's account, two individuals downloaded data from a third-party cloud server used by Uber, which contained names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of some 57 million Uber users around the world.
The individuals also downloaded names and driver’s license numbers of some 600,000 of the company's US drivers, Khosrowshahi said in a blog post.
