A 20-Year-Old Florida Man Is Reportedly Behind the Massive Uber Hack
The bad news keeps piling up for shamed ride-sharing giant Uber. In November, news surfaced that the personal information of roughly 57 million Uber users was hacked. Not only that, but the company confirmed that it had paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the stolen data and keep the breach quiet. Now, we know that the hacker responsible for it all was a 20-year-old Florida man.
Three sources close to the hack confirmed to Reuters that the person responsible for the hack is a 20-year-old living in Florida, however, his identity couldn't be established. According to the Reuters report, the hacker is described as "living with his mom in a small home trying to help pay the bills." Members of Uber's security team reportedly paid the man to confirm his identity and sign a nondisclosure agreement. In addition, those close to the matter said that the company conducted a forensic analysis of his machine to make sure the hacked data had been removed.
The Reuters report details that the Florida hacker paid a second person to access GitHub in an effort to obtain credentials for accessing Uber's code and data. GitHub said that the incident isn't the result of security failures on its end.
Uber paid the 20-year-old $100,000 as part of its "bug bounty" program, which the company normally uses to reward people for identifying and reporting vulnerabilities in its software. The hack, which took place in October 2016, included the information such as email addresses and phone numbers of 57 million users, including 600,000 drivers in the US.
Uber spokesman Matt Kallman declined to comment on the identity of the hacker.
At the time of the payout to the hacker, Uber didn't prosecute him, as the company's security team didn't feel that he posed a further threat. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick reportedly knew about the hack and the company's move to pay the hacker in November 2016. Because Kalanick stepped down in June, the company's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi took to firing two security officials, believing they should have informed regulators when the hack was discovered. Kalanick declined to comment.
Feature photo by Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
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| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
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| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
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Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
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Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month