Uber 'paid off' hackers who stole personal information of 57 million users and drivers

The personal information of more than 57 million Uber users and drivers was stolen by hackers last year, the company revealed on Wednesday.

In a statement, the company’s recently appointed Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said the breach was made by two individuals outside the company, who accessed data in 2016.

The information, which was stored in a third-party cloud-based service, included names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers, as well as the names and number plates of some 600,000 drivers in the United States.

"At the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorized access by the individuals,” Khosrowshahi wrote.

"We subsequently identified the individuals and obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed."

Uber paid 100,000 US dollars (£75,500) to the hackers to delete the data and keep the breach under wraps, according to Bloomberg, who first reported the story.

Khosrowshahi added there had been "no indication" trip history, credit card details, bank account numbers or dates of birth were downloaded by the hackers.

"While we have not seen evidence of fraud or misuse tied to the incident, we are monitoring the affected accounts and have flagged them for additional fraud protection," he wrote.

"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it.

"While I can't erase the past, I can commit on behalf of every Uber employee that we will learn from our mistakes."