The group of European data protection authorities said today they set up a task force to probe ride-sharing company Uber.
The so-called Article 29 Working Party said on its website it “established a taskforce on the UBER data breach case,” led by the Dutch data protection authority that will include members of the French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, German and British authorities.
Uber last week revealed a massive data breach that occurred over a year ago but never came to light because the company conspired to keep it hidden.
Representatives of the authorities met in Brussels today to go over information Uber provided since the breach became public.
Earlier today, the British Information Commissioner’s Office said about 2.7 million user accounts in the U.K. were affected. “On its own, this information is unlikely to pose a direct threat to citizens. However, its use may make other scams, such as bogus emails or calls appear more credible,” ICO Deputy Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said.
The Dutch DPA separately said it was still investigating Uber’s notification of the breach.
Europe’s data protection authorities can streamline their investigations into companies, something that is exceptional, but that has happened in big cases including the Yahoo data breach earlier this year.
[contf] [contfnew]
