Uber said on Friday it was investigating a “cybersecurity incident” and declined to comment on reports that a young hacker had gained access to the ride-hailing company’s digital network.
The Californian company spread news of the attack Thursday night in a tweet, and then a hacker who said he was 18 years old posted screenshots taken from inside Uber’s computers.
“He claims that simply, after determining a valid username and password, he tricked an Uber staff member into granting him access to internal systems,” independent cybersecurity analyst Graham Cluley said on his website. .
Online comments, allegedly made by the hacker, indicated that he targeted an Uber employee with notifications for over an hour and then contacted the worker via WhatsApp, claiming to be a member of Uber’s tech support team. company.
“Many other companies are probably at risk of falling for a similar hoax,” Cluley said.
Uber said Friday that all of its services were operational and that it had “no evidence that the incident involved access to sensitive data,” such as users’ travel histories.