Uber investigating breach of its network

Photo / AP

Uber said Thursday that it reached out to law enforcement after a hacker apparently breached its network. A security engineer said the intruder had provided evidence of obtaining access to crucial cloud systems at the ride-hailing service.

There was no indication that Uber's fleet of vehicles or its operation was in any way affected.

"It seems like they've compromised a lot of stuff," said Sam Curry, an engineer with Yuga Labs who communicated with the hacker. That includes obtaining complete access to the Amazon and Google-hosted cloud environments where Uber stores its source code and customer data, he said.

Curry said he spoke to several Uber employees who said they were "working to lock down everything internally" to restrict the hacker's access. That included the company's Slack internal messaging network, he said.

He said there was no indication that the hacker had done any damage or was interested in anything more than publicity. "My gut feeling is that it seems like they are out to get as much attention as possible."

The hacker had alerted Curry and other security researchers to the intrusion by using an internal Uber account to comment on vulnerabilities they had previously identified on the company's network through its bug-bounty program, which pays ethical hackers to identify vulnerabilities.

The hacker provided a Telegram account address and Curry and other researchers then engaged them in a separate conversation, sharing screenshots of various pages from Uber's cloud providers to prove they broke in.

The Associated Press attempted to contact the hacker at the Telegram account where Curry and the other researchers chatted with them. But no one responded.

One screenshot posted on Twitter and confirmed by researchers shows a chat with the hacker in which they say they obtained the credentials of an administrative user and then used social engineering to access Uber's internal network.

Uber said via email that it was "currently responding to a cybersecurity incident. We are in touch with law enforcement." It said it would provide updates on its Uber Comms Twitter feed.

- AP