Uber Technologies Inc.

Summary

Uber confirmed that hackers stole thousands of drivers’ license information during a breach at third-party vendor Fireworks AI, which had access to some of its data. The stolen data included driver’s licenses for thousands of individuals across Massachusetts, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Illinois, and California, with additional state notifications expected. Fireworks attributed the intrusion to a financially motivated cybercriminal group seeking to sell stolen tokens for accessing large language models, though no group has claimed responsibility. The incident follows an earlier breach at the company’s freight shipping unit where an extortion gang took credit for stealing data.

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Description

Uber began notifying thousands of drivers that their personal and driver's license information was stolen during an October data breach at one of the company's technology providers. The ride-hail giant said it was notified on October 9 by the provider that hackers had broken in and stolen internal credentials, which were subsequently used to access Uber's data. Uber subsequently began notifying affected drivers that their personal information was stored with the provider. TechCrunch identified the provider as Fireworks AI, a company that lets developers access and use open AI models. Fireworks reported a data breach the previous month in which hackers stole its customers' information, including billing data and some private AI datasets. Online productivity startup Notion also confirmed that its data was stolen in the Fireworks hack. An Uber spokesperson stated that the notices to drivers related to a security incident impacting the third-party vendor Fireworks.ai, which had access to some Uber data. Uber declined to specify how many customers were affected or how many drivers were being notified about the incident. When reached by email, a Fireworks spokesperson confirmed that the company identified a security issue involving unauthorized access to some of its systems, which affected customer data, but did not address specific questions about the incident.

According to data breach notices reviewed by TechCrunch, the stolen data includes driver's licenses of 2,567 individuals in Massachusetts, 3,430 people across South Carolina, and 1,873 residents of Rhode Island. A filing with Illinois indicated that some state residents had their driver's license information stolen, though the number of affected people remained pending. Uber also notified drivers who live in California but did not disclose how many had their information stolen. The total number of affected individuals is expected to rise as additional data breach notifications are filed. Fireworks attributed its breach to a financially motivated cybercriminal group whose objective is to sell stolen tokens for accessing large language models. No known cybercriminal group has taken credit for the data theft involving Uber's information. This incident marks Uber's second known data breach during the year. Earlier, the company reported a security incident at its Uber Freight truck shipping unit, for which an extortion gang took credit for stealing data.

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