Uber investigates breach of its computer systems

The attack forced the company to take several of its internal systems offline, including Slack, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud Platform. Uber continues to investigate how a hacker, who claims to be 18 years old, was able to gain administrator access to the company’s internal tools.

Those internal software tools went offline yesterday afternoon as a “precaution” and began coming back online today, the company says.

The hacker announced himself to Uber employees by posting a message on the company’s internal Slack system.

“I announce that I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach,” reads screenshots of the message circulates on Twitter.

The alleged hacker listed sensitive company information he said he had accessed and posted a hashtag saying that Uber underpays its drivers.

The hacker, who spoke with a reporter for The New York Times claims to have received a password that allows access to Uber systems from a company employee whom he tricked into posing as a corporate official, a technique known as social engineering.

Security experts consulted by the Times said the attack appeared to be a “total compromise” of Uber’s systems. But the company is not advising its users to make any proactive changes to their accounts at this time, such as changing passwords, a spokesperson said.