Uber pursues data breach ‘with link to Lyft tech chief’

Uber is focusing legal efforts on learning more about an internet address linked to a data breach earlier this year that sources told Reuters can be traced to the chief of technology at competing ride-sharing service Lyft.

In February Uber revealed up to 50,000 of its drivers’ names and licence numbers had been accessed improperly. Uber has filed a law suit in a San Francisco federal court to try and track down the perpetrator.

According to Uber’s court papers an unknown individual using a Comcast IP address had access to a security key used in the breach, and two sources tell Reuters that IP address was assigned to Lyft chief technology officer Chris Lambert.

While court papers do not make a connection between the Comcast IP address and the alleged hacker, and it was not the IP address from which the data breach was launched, a US magistrate has ruled that an Uber subpoena of Comcast records was “reasonably likely” to help reveal whoever was responsible for the hack.

Lyft spokesperson Brandon McCormick says the company investigated the matter long ago, and “there is no evidence any Lyft employee, including Chris” had anything to do with the breach.

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