Uber Technologies (UBER) shares slumped lower Friday after it confirmed a New York Times report of a cybersecurity breach into the ride-sharing group's internal IT systems.
The Times reported late Thursday that a hacker had gained control of some of Uber's internal communications systems after posing as an corporate IT expert and using an employee's workplace Slack account to send company-wide messages claiming he or she had compromised the network.
The Slack channel was shut down shortly afterwards, the Times reported, while Uber said it has been "in touch with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available."
Uber shares were marked 5.5% lower in early Friday trading to change hands at $31.31 each, erasing all of the stock's gain for the past six months.
The Thursday New York Times report may have reminded investors of a damaging cybersecurity breach in 2016, which resulted in a $100,000 payment to hackers and the alleged destruction of 57 million users' data, under founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick.
Data protection authorities in Britain and the European Union, as well as attorneys general in at least four U.S. states, investigated the circumstances surrounding the breach, which included the personal details of 7 million customers, emails and telephone numbers of around 50 million and licence plate information on some 600,000 drivers.
Last month, Uber said its total trips exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time over the three months ending in June, helping overall revenues rise 105% from last year to $8.1 billion.
The San Francisco-based group was also cashflow positive for the first time since its 2017 IPO, and said gross bookings for the three months ending in September should rise to as high as $30 billion.
