UBER on Thursday said that it was investigating a “cybersecurity incident” after a report that a teenage hacker had breached its internal systems.
An 18-year-old tech whizz has claimed responsibility for the attack, which is not thought to affect customer data.
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Uber had to shut several internal communications and engineering systems in order to contain the breach.
A hacker compromised an employee’s workplace messaging app Slack and used it to send a message to Uber employees.
In the message, they announced that the company had suffered a data breach, according to a New York Times report on Thursday that cited an Uber spokesperson.
The hacker is said to have mocked Uber employees and sent obscene photos of male genitalia on Slack.
It appeared that they were later able to gain access to other internal systems.
The food and ride-hailing service said Friday: “We are currently responding to a cybersecurity incident.
“We are in touch with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available.”
The Slack system was taken offline on Thursday afternoon by Uber after employees received the message from the hacker, who claimed to be 18 years old, according to the Times report.
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“I announce I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach,” the message read, and went on to list several internal databases that were claimed to be compromised, the report added.
A person, claiming responsibility for the hack, told the paper that he had sent a text message to an Uber employee claiming to be a corporate IT person.
The worker was persuaded to hand over a password that allowed the hacker to gain access to Uber’s systems, the report said.
Slack said in a statement to Reuters that the company was investigating the incident and that there was no evidence of a vulnerability inherent to its platform.
“Uber is a valued customer, and we are here to help them if they need us,” Slack, which is owned by Salesforce Inc , said in the statement.
Uber employees were instructed to not use Slack, according to the report. Other internal systems, too, were inaccessible.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
