TALLAHASSE – Attorney General Pam Bondi recently said a $148 million settlement has been reached with Uber Technologies regarding violations of the state's Information Protection Act (FIPA) and other related laws related to data breaches.
Bondi, in a Sept. 26 news release, said the settlement reached by her and attorneys general in 49 states and the District of Columbia is still awaiting judicial approval. Florida will receive $8,246,606 as its portion of the settlement.
As part of the settlement, Uber also said it would reinforce its data security policies in hopes of blocking similar events. The company also agreed to comply with the FIPA moving forward. The attorney general’s office also made it mandatory for Uber to take even more precautions to protect user information such as utilizing stronger password policies and creating and executing a program that would call for its workers to have more integrity.
The issue date back to November 2016 when Uber reportedly first discovered hackers had a gateway to personal information for Uber clients such as their driver's license details.
Though Uber was able to find out who the hackers were and vow that they got rid of the information and would never release it, that was just the beginning of an uphill legal battle for the ride sharing service. It was Florida policies that obligated Uber to let the state’s residents know about the breach, yet Uber didn’t do so until a year after it first discovered the breaches.
“Data breaches need to be dealt with in a very urgent and responsive manner,” Bondi said in the release. “Not only are they often serious crimes, but people with compromised information need to be alerted immediately, so they can take steps to guard against identity theft and financial losses. Hopefully, this settlement will send the clear message that faster reporting is essential.”