Uber concealed cyberattack that affected 57 million customers and drivers

Uber has admitted concealing a cyber-attack that affected 57 million customers and drivers in 2016.

The breach was hidden by the global ride-hailing firm after it reportedly paid hackers $100,000 (£75,000) to delete the data.

The heist took the names, email addresses and phone numbers of millions of riders, as well as the driver's licence numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers.

Former Chief executive Travis Kalanick was aware of the breach, according to Bloomberg.

The scandal-plagued firm’s current chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi said there was no indication that sensitive details such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth or trip location histories were downloaded.

Uber is offering drivers free credit monitoring protection, while customers’ affected accounts are also being monitored.

Mr Khosrowshahi said: “I recently learned that in late 2016 we became aware that two individuals outside the company had inappropriately accessed user data stored on a third-party cloud-based service that we use.”

He said he ordered a “thorough investigation” after being made aware of the incident and the failure to notify the affected individuals or regulators.

He added: “None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. While I can’t erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes.

“We are changing the way we do business, putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers.”