SoftBank was First to Know About Uber’s Data Breach
Uber Technologies declared on Thursday that it discussed the topic of a massive data breach with a potential investor, SoftBank Group Corp before going public
The ride-hailing company is trying to fulfill a deal that consists of the Japanese company investing $10 billion for at least 14% of Uber, by buying out existing shareholders.
“We informed SoftBank that we were investigating a data breach, consistent with our duty to disclose to a potential investor, even though our information at the time was preliminary and incomplete,” Uber said in a statement.
“We also made clear that our forensic investigation was ongoing,” Uber said. “Once our internal inquiry concluded and we had a more complete understanding of the facts, we disclosed to regulators and our customers in a very public way.”
When asked to comment on a report on the disclosure, Uber described the discussion with SoftBank.4
Apparently, it took two months for Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi to learn about the breach.
However, Uber did not say when Khosrowshahi first learned of the breach, and did not reveal the specific date of its discussion with SoftBank.