Dubai’s popular ride-sharing platform ‘Careem’ has disclosed that it became a victim of cyber attack early this year. The Middle East’s ride-hailing app touted to be a rival to Uber said in a press statement released today that its database was compromised on January 24th this year exposing data of more than 14 million users.
As per the sources reporting to Cybersecurity Insiders, hackers gained access to computer systems that stored customer and driver account info. And the stolen data includes critical details such as trip data, phone numbers of the customers, email addresses, names and their house addresses. As details such as passwords and credit card info were stored on third-party servers, they were out of reach to the cyber crooks.
A spokesperson from Careem said that details of more than 558,000 drivers and 14 million customers hailing from 78 cities across Dubai could have been accessed by the hackers.
The company remained silent on why it took almost 3 months time to disclose the details of the data breach
Note 1- Careem is a ride-sharing app founded in 2012 which offers chauffeur driven cars to commuters. The company offers its services in 13 countries located in North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia. German Car maker Daimler and Chinese company DiDi are said to be the prime investors in the company. And the company is the only firm in the business to employ Women as 30% of the workforce. And by the year 2020, it is planning to have a female headcount of 20,000.
Note 2- Careem which is now valued at $1.2 billion was looking to go for a public offering in June 2018 as it was in an intention to raise $500 million with IPO. However, the disclosure of the data breach which happened in Jan’ 18 could cause hindrances to its financial vision in near future.
