UBERK PAY OFF BLACKMAILERS

Uber concealed a hack that affected 57 million customers and drivers, the company has confirmed.

The 2016 breach was hidden by the ride-sharing firm which paid hackers $100,000 (£75,000) to delete the data.

The company's former chief executive Travis Kalanick knew about the breach over a year ago, according to Bloomberg, which first broke the news.

The hackers found 57 million names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers, Uber said.
Within that number, 600,000 drivers had their names and license details exposed. A resource page for those affected has been set up.

Drivers have been offered free credit monitoring protection, but per Uber's statement, affected customers will not be given the same.

'None of this should have happened'
"While we have not seen evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident, we are monitoring the affected accounts and have flagged them for additional fraud protection," Uber's chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said.

"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," he added.

"While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes."

In the wake of the news, Uber's chief security officer Joe Sullivan has left the company.

Uber did not confirm precise details of the hack, but according to Bloomberg's report, two hackers were able to access a private area of Github, an online resource for developers.

From there it is understood they found Uber's log-in credentials to Amazon Web Services. AWS is a cloud computing service used by companies to store data.

As is often the case, it will likely be the cover up that proves more bothersome for Uber than the hack itself.

Companies are required to disclose significant data breaches to regulators, something it has by its own admission failed to do in this case.

Uber has form. In January it was fined $20,000 for failing to disclose a considerably less serious breach in 2014.

Managing Uber appears to be like a game of Whac-A-Mole - no sooner has one crisis been dealt with when another one rears its ugly head.

This latest scandal, however, threatens to tear apart an already fragile truce between Uber's former chief executive Travis Kalanick and Benchmark, the shareholder that trounced him from the top job then tried to kick him off the board.

These two managed to park their hostilities in order that an investment by Japanese conglomerate Softbank - thought to be worth up to $10bn - would go ahead.

But the fact that Uber concealed a massive data breach, which Mr Kalanick knew about a year ago, will do nothing to help matters.

Softbank's investment is significant for Uber because it will result in a significant reform of its board and help the business improve its corporate governance, something that desperately needs to be overhauled.

Uber's new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi appears to be starting as he means to go on. In his statement regarding the data breach, he said the company needed to be open and honest if is to "repair our past mistakes".

Rajeev Misra, a board director at Softbank, described progress on a deal with Uber as "long and arduous".

With Uber's latest problems, it may become a whole lot tougher.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42075306 
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YORK

A TAXI driver who allegedly hit and killed a student who was lying in the road thought we was driving over a bin bag, York Crown Court heard.

A jury has seen CCTV footage of the moment the Ford Mondeo driven by Frank Norman, 71, hit Robert Stephenson, 21, on Micklegate, York, on March 26, 2016.

Simon Waley, prosecuting, said the Pickering final year undergraduate suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead at York Hospital shortly afterwards.

Mr Waley alleged that another taxi driver driving in the opposite direction to Norman saw Mr Stephenson lying in the road, and realising that he was a person, not an object, slowed down and stopped before driving off without hitting him.
Giving evidence, Norman alleged that he didn’t see the “object” in front of his taxi until he was “on top of it”.

The court heard he believed it was a bin bag and so drove over it.

“I wouldn’t have done so if I had known what it was,” he claimed.

“If you knew it was a person, you would have swerved and avoided it?” asked his barrister Michael Rawlinson.

“Yes,” replied the 71-year-old taxi driver.
Norman, of Brunel Court, off Leeman Road, York, denies causing Mr Stephenson’s death by careless driving.

The prosecution alleges that he didn’t check that it was safe to drive over what was in the road, or he wasn’t keeping a good enough look out.

“We say that his driving was therefore careless and he therefore caused the death of Mr Stephenson,” said Mr Waley.

Mr Waley said Mr Stephenson had been in York city centre after attending a rugby tournament and by the early hours “he had clearly had a great deal to drink”.

He alleged CCTV footage of Micklegate and the collision near Priory Street showed that Mr Stephenson was unsteady on his feet.

“He can be seen to lie down, tragically for him, lie down on the roadway. It would appear he may have gone to sleep,” said Mr Waley.

Mr Stephenson was on the side of the road taken by traffic travelling from Ouse Bridge to Micklegate Bar, said Mr Waley.

“Robert was stationary and his body remained on the road directly in the path of this Mondeo,” said Mr Waley. “The defendant didn’t slow down.”

The other taxi driver drove along the other side of the road from Micklegate Bar towards Ouse Bridge shortly before Norman, alleged Mr Waley.
Norman told the jury he was taking four teachers from St Sampson’s Square to Acomb, travelling at about 20 mph.

He had been driving taxis for 34 years and with his current firm for eight years. Earlier police collision expert PC David Taylor alleged that a driver could have seen that there was something on the road from 70 metres.

The trial continues.

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