Teen Hacks Uber via Intranet, VPN; Breaches G Suite Accounts, Amazon Web Services

Uber is in the limelight, this time for a cybersecurity incident. It was discovered that Uber's internal systems have been allegedly breached by a teen. The 18-year-old hacker apparently gained administrator access to Uber tools like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform and took internal systems offline.

Uber Allegedly Hacked By Teenager

The New York Times report explains that the teen hacker took down several internal systems, including Slack. Going into the details, the hacker posed themselves as an Uber employee and even messaged on Slack. A screenshot of the Slack messages string was leaked online, and it looks like other Uber employees didn't take the hacker seriously.

"I announce I am a hacker and Uber has suffered a data breach," the screenshots of the message read. Other Uber employees thought this was a joke and responded with lighthearted emojis. The hacker also said they had accessed confidential information and said Uber underpays its drivers.

The report further explains that the hacker identified themselves as 18-year-old, and breached Uber for fun. The hacker also had a conversation with security researcher Corben Leo, who revealed that the hacker gained access to Uber's systems through login credentials from an employee via social engineering.

We are currently responding to a cybersecurity incident. We are in touch with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available.

— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) September 16, 2022

This further provided the hacker access to internal company codes including PowerShell scripts on Uber's intranet via VPN. The hacker also gained access to management credentials and allegedly breached Uber's AWS and G Suite accounts.

Uber Responds to Teen's Hack

Uber is currently aware of the situation and is working on resolving it. The drive-hailing platform took to Twitter to update users on the same. "We are currently responding to a cybersecurity incident," Uber confirmed in the tweet.

"We are in touch with law enforcement and will post additional updates here as they become available," the brand confirmed. Presently, the reason for the hack is unclear. A few reports claim that the hack was a complete breach. The teen allegedly got into the Uber system, but doesn't know what to do with it, security researchers explained.