Missouri AG Hawley will investigate Uber data breach

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office said Wednesday that it will investigate a massive data breach of Uber that affected 57 million of the company’s customers.

Hawley’s office sent a letter Wednesday to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi demanding that the company notify all Missouri customers affected by the October 2016 breach after it was revealed that the company paid hackers to prevent the breach from becoming public knowledge.

“Missouri consumers deserve to know if and when their personal information is compromised — whether that occurs under Uber’s watch or that of other large tech companies,” Hawley said in a statement. “As I made clear last week, my Office is committed to protecting the privacy and safety of Missouri consumers against the whims of tech giants.”

His office already is investigating whether another tech giant, Google, has violated Missouri’s consumer protection laws.

Hawley’s office stated that Uber’s failure to protect customer data and its concealment of the breach may have violated the state’s consumer protections laws.

Hawley, a Republican in his first year in office, is mounting a campaign for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Missouri AG Hawley will investigate Uber data breach."