The French Data Protection Authority said Thursday Dec 20 that it fined Uber 460 000 over its 2016 data breach that exposed the data on 57 million customers and drivers across the world Uber paid hackers to hide the breach for about a year before it was disclosed According to a report in Moneycontrolcom the French Data Protection Authority said the data breach could have been prevented by implementing certain elementary security measures The French government joins a growing list of countries fining Uber over that data breach Late last month Reuters reported the Information Commissioners Office ICO in the UK fined the ride-hailing company 490 760 Meanwhile the Dutch Data Protection Authority DPA fined Uber 678 780 This was not only a serious failure of data security on Ubers part but a complete disregard for the customers and drivers whose personal information was stolen ICO Director of Investigations Steve Eckersley said in a statement announcing the fine At the time no steps were taken to inform anyone affected by the breach or to offer help and support That left them vulnerable Meanwhile the Dutch Data Protection Authority said the breach affected 174 000 people in the Netherlands and that it would fine Uber for failing to report the breach within 72 hours of discovering it Earlier this year Uber settled with the state of California agreeing to pay 148 million over the 2016 breach With the data breach a hit to Ubers reputation the ride-hailing startup with an eye toward an initial public offering in the new year has taken steps to beef up its security Uber told Reuters in November that it has overhauled its data practice since 2016 and has appointed a chief privacy officer and data protection officer this year Users regulators and industry watchers were particularly upset that Uber chose to cover up the data breach for about a year LATEST INSIGHTS Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation thats reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem Check out the latest PYMNTS report on healthcare digital identity Related Items data breach France Netherlands News security fraud Uber uk Whats Hot