When we were 18, we worried about getting into our school of choice or if our favourite band was cringe, but kids these days are all too busy hacking multibillion-dollar companies.
What happened: Uber confirmed its internal systems suffered a security breach perpetrated by someone alleging to be an 18-year-old, and has launched an investigation into the hack.
- The hacker told WaPo they breached Uber for fun because it has “awful” security. They posed as IT and persuaded an employee to give up a key password, per NYT.
The hacker alerted employees of the breach by posting a message in the company Slack that included claims, like #uberunderpaysdrivers. Many thought it was a practical joke.
Why it matters: A security engineer who talked with the hacker said, “They pretty much have full access,” including entry to the company’s cloud services and financial data.
- It’s unclear what this could mean for the data of Uber’s ~122 million riders and ~5 million drivers, but it wouldn’t be the first time their data was compromised.
Zoom out: Cybersecurity incidents are on the rise and Uber is not the only big company to suffer a breach this year. It’s another sign that companies need to batten down those hatches.