Uber says Philippines included in global data breach
Commissioner Raymund Liboro said Uber has provided NPC with additional information regarding the breach, which involved personal data of some 57 million users and drivers worldwide. File
MANILA, Philippines — Personal information of Filipinos were exposed in the data breach in October last year, ride-sharing company Uber confirmed to the National Privacy Commission (NPC).
Commissioner Raymund Liboro said Uber has provided NPC with additional information regarding the breach, which involved personal data of some 57 million users and drivers worldwide.
“Uber confirmed to us that personal information of Filipinos were exposed in the data breach. As such, the NPC has jurisdiction over the data breach insofar as it affects these Filipino citizens,” Liboro said.
“Unfortunately, Uber failed to provide the level of detail that we expect from personal information controllers about data breach notifications, such as the actual number of Filipinos affected and the scope of their exposure,” he added.
Citing the information provided by Uber, Liboro said there is no indication that Filipino drivers’ licenses were downloaded.
He also noted that Uber’s corporate systems were not affected, ensuring that the users’ trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers or birthdays were not exposed.
Data that were compromised included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers of users, and driver’s license of around 600,000 drivers in the US.
“Uber has implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on their cloud-based storage accounts,” the NPC quoted the company as saying.
While Uber noted that there has been no evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident, the NPC said the concealment of a data breach bears serious consequences under the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
“If so qualified, those responsible for the concealment of the breach and for the exfiltration of the data may face serious civil and criminal liability,” said Liboro.
“The investigation continues. We are also cooperating with the data privacy authorities of Australia and the US on this matter. We are not here to merely prosecute offenses against data privacy, but to work with all stakeholders to ensure that we keep moving toward a safer data ecosystem where data flow freely and securely,” he added. –Janvic Mateo
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