The Department of Justice has begun investigating a data breach that exposed the details of thousands of Uber drivers and has been blamed on an employee of rival company Lyft, Reuters reported.
A source familiar with the situation told Reuters last week that a federal probe has been opened to examine the May 2014 breach that had compromised the personal information of roughly 50,000 Uber drivers, including names and license numbers.
The breached database had been downloaded using a digital security key that had been accidentally hosted on the code-development website Github, Uber claimed. A subsequent investigation suggested a person using an Internet address registered to Chris Lambert, Lyft’s chief technology officer, had visited that page.
Lawyers for Uber went public with the breach in February, alleged in court documents that Mr. Lambert had been involved in the hack.
Miles Ehrlich, a former federal prosecutor recently hired by Mr. Lambert, told Reuters that his client “had nothing to do” with the breach.
“Given that Uber apparently lost driver data, a law enforcement investigation is to be expected,” he said. “And the benefit is that the culprit here is going to be identified — and that’s going to remove Chris’ name from any conversation about Uber’s data breach, as it should.”
Representatives for the Justice Department and Uber declined to answer the Reuters’ requests for comment. Lyft said in a statement Friday that the rideshare company had not yet been contacted by any state or federal agency regarding any investigation.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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