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Newhouse","title":"","staff":true},"547195":{"name":"Tom Mendelsohn","title":"Contributing Sub Editor","staff":true},"513593":{"name":"Andrii Degeler","title":"Contributing reporter","staff":true},"549735":{"name":"Jennifer Baker","title":"Contributing Europe Correspondent","staff":true},"100955":{"name":"Lee Aylward","title":"Lead Developer","staff":false}}}; </script> <article itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/NewsArticle" class="article-single standalone intro-default "> <div class="column-wrapper"> <div class="left-column"> <header class="article-header"> <h4 class="post-upperdek"> 7-character ID — </h4> <h1 itemprop="headline">50,000 Uber driver names, license numbers exposed in a data breach</h1> <h2 itemprop="description">Breach was discovered last year, database was accessed in May.</h2> <section class="post-meta"> <p class="byline" itemprop="author creator" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <a itemprop="url" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/author/megan-geuss/" rel="author"><span itemprop="name">Megan Geuss</span></a> - <time class="date" data-time="1425153130" datetime="2015-02-28T19:52:10+00:00">Feb 28, 2015 7:52 pm UTC</time> </p> </section> </header> <section class="article-guts"> <div itemprop="articleBody" class="article-content post-page"> <aside id="social-left"><a title="37 posters participating" class="comment-count icon-comment-bubble-down" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/50000-uber-driver-names-license-plate-numbers-exposed-in-a-data-breach/?comments=1"> <span class="comment-count-before">reader comments</span> <span class="comment-count-number">60</span> </a> <div class="share-links"> <span>Share this story</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dpost%26p%3D620991" target="_blank" class="social-icon share-facebook" title="Share on Facebook"></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/https://twitter.com/share?text=50%2C000+Uber+driver+names%2C+license+numbers+exposed+in+a+data+breach&url=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dpost%26p%3D620991" target="_blank" class="social-icon share-twitter" title="Share on Twitter"></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dpost%26p%3D620991&title=50%2C000+Uber+driver+names%2C+license+numbers+exposed+in+a+data+breach" target="_blank" class="social-icon share-reddit" title="Share on Reddit"></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dpost%26p%3D620991" target="_blank" class="social-icon share-gplus" title="Share on Google+"></a> </div> </aside>  <p>On Friday Uber <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://blog.uber.com/2-27-15">posted a notice</a> saying that the company had discovered that one of its databases had a point of entry for unauthorized users. On further investigation it found that “a one-time unauthorized access to an Uber database by a third party had occurred on May 13, 2014.” That database reportedly contained driver names and license numbers.</p> <p><aside class="pullbox sidebar story-sidebar right"><div class="story-sidebar-part"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/11/uber-exec-suggests-opposition-research-on-journalists/" class="story-sidebar-part-img" style="background-image:url('https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136im_/https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Screen-Shot-2014-11-18-at-10.35.55-AM-640x457.png');"></a><div class="story-sidebar-part-content"><h3>Further Reading</h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/11/uber-exec-suggests-opposition-research-on-journalists/">Uber exec suggests “opposition research” on journalists</a></div></div></aside>“Our investigation determined the unauthorized access impacted approximately 50,000 drivers across multiple states, which is a small percentage of current and former Uber driver partners,” the note by Katherine Tassi, Uber’s Managing Counsel of Data Privacy, stated. The company added that it has not received any reports of identity misuse, although it's unclear whether divers have reported anything since learning about the breach.</p> <p>Uber said it was alerting affected drivers and will offer them a free one-year membership to an identity-monitoring service. Tassi said that Uber had filed a “John Doe” lawsuit in order to “gather information that may lead to confirmation of the identity of the third party.”</p> <p>Uber has had privacy issues in the past—not so much at the hands of hackers, but at the hands of its own management. Last year, the CEO of Uber <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/11/uber-exec-suggests-opposition-research-on-journalists/">suggested that the company</a> do “opposition research” into the comings and goings of journalists who wrote negative things about Uber. Before that, the company was flung into scandal when it displayed the real-time activity of 30 of its “notable users” at a launch party in Chicago.</p> <p><em><strong>Correction:</strong></em><em> This post originally stated that license plate numbers had been stolen from Uber's database. However, drivers license numbers were actually stolen. Ars regrets the error.</em></p> </div> </section> </div> <div class="xrail"> <div class="xrail-content"> <aside class="ad ad_xrail ad_xrail_top" id="ad_xrail_top"></aside> <aside class="ad_native" id="ad_xrail_native"></aside> </div> </div> </div> <div class="column-wrapper"> <div class="left-column"> <section class="article-author"> <a style="background-image:url('https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136im_/https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/m.geuss-16.jpg');" class="author-photo" href="/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/author/megan-geuss"></a> <div class="author-bio"> <section class="author-bio-top"> <a href="/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/author/megan-geuss" class="author-name">Megan Geuss</a> Megan is a staff editor at Ars Technica. She writes breaking news and has a background in fact-checking and research. </section> <section class="author-social"> <strong>Email</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/mailto:megan.geuss@arstechnica.com">megan.geuss@arstechnica.com</a> <span class="slashes">//</span> <strong>Twitter</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/https://www.twitter.com/MeganGeuss" target="_blank">@MeganGeuss</a> </section> </div> </section> <aside id="social-footer"> <a title="37 posters participating" class="comment-count icon-comment-bubble-down" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161125151136/http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/50000-uber-driver-names-license-plate-numbers-exposed-in-a-data-breach/?comments=1"> <span class="comment-count-before">reader comments</span> <span class="comment-count-number">60</span> </a> <div class="share-links"> <span>Share this story</span> <a 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