Uber has agreed to pay Montana half-a-million dollars as part of a multi-state settlement over a data breach within the ride-sharing company of driver’s personal information.
According to Attorney General Tim Fox’s office, Uber learned in 2016 that hackers gained access to 86 Montana Uber drivers driver’s license information. Nearly 600,000 drivers were impacted nationwide.
John Barnes with the Attorney General’ office says Montana joined 49 other states and the District of Columbia in a settlement with Uber over the breach, which Barnes says the company failed to timely report.
“Uber waited just about a year before notifying its drives of this data breach. And if I were an Uber driver I would be extremely frustrated by that," Barnes says.
The Associated Press Reports that the hack of Uber also took the names, email addresses and cell phone numbers of 57 million riders around the world. The total settlement nationwide is for $148 million.
Montana’s portion of the settlement money will go into the state’s consumer protection fund.
