Personal information stored in a monitoring tool called “Good View” was leaked by a third party.
(Mirror Daily, United States) –Eric Schneiderman, attorney general of the state of New York has decided Uber’s “Good View” programme to be fined $20000. This decision comes after an investigation that started in 2014 after the company was accused of not storing personal information in a secure manner.
Uber is an alternative solution for those who do not want to use cab services. It works via an app that can be installed on any smart device. The person that is in need of a ride submits a route in the application and then receives a confirmation from one of the drivers. This automatically means that when using the application, the customer must submit two addresses, a real name and a phone number. Payment is made only through via credit card.
All of the drivers that work for Uber are independent contractors with their own car and schedule. Also, they have a bonus system based on the review of the customers, so it’s in their own interest to act nicely to the clients. This is what made Uber so popular among people.
At the end of 2014, there was a leak of information that was caused by one of the engineers that work for the company. Data that included names of the independent contractors that collaborate with Uber, routes that were taken, clients that requested them, and even the name, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of said clients were stored on a cloud where any third party could have had access to them.
The tool used for monitoring all of the existing and incoming data is called, “Good View”. Security around it was very loose. That may be the reason for which in 2015 another third party broke into the system’s data and leaked sensitive information. Basic everyone who had contact with Uber had their personal information made public.
The company did not respond promptly to this information surge, and so the data was visible for the public for quite a long time. This is the reason for which Eric Schneiderman decided Uber’s “Good View” programme to be fined $20000.
After the meeting with the attorney general of the New York state, and after reaching the $20000 settlement, Uber officials have declared that all of the information stored in the “Good View” programme will be password protected. Also, all of the live data that is collected by the application will be encrypted.
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Tara Hamilton
