Uber Investigates Computer Network Breach – Report | Uber

Uber said Thursday it is responding to a cybersecurity incident after the New York Times reported that a hack had breached the company’s network and forced it to take several internal communications and technical systems offline.

A hacker compromised an employee’s Slack workplace messaging app and then used it to send a message to Uber employees announcing it had suffered a data breach, the Times reported, citing an Uber spokesman.

It appeared the hacker was able to gain access to other internal company systems by posting an explicit image on an internal employee information page, the report added. “We are in contact with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available,” Uber said in a tweet, without providing further details.

The Slack system was taken offline Thursday afternoon by Uber after employees received the message from the hacker, according to the Times report, which cited two employees who were not authorized to speak publicly.

“I hereby announce that I am a hacker and that Uber has suffered a data breach,” the message read, going on to list several internal databases that were allegedly compromised, the report added.

Staff at the company were instructed not to use Slack, which is owned by Salesforce Inc, according to the report. Other internal systems were also reportedly unavailable.