COLUMBUS – Thousands of Uber drivers in Ohio are due to receive a $100 check as part of a nationwide settlement with the ride-hailing company over a 2016 data breach that exposed the names and driver’s license numbers of hundreds of thousands of drivers across the country.
Ohio, which was a co-lead state in the multistate investigation that led to the settlement, will get nearly $5.6 million of the $148 million total settlement, according to Attorney General Mike DeWine.
The money will be used to provide payments to eligible Ohio Uber drivers and to fund consumer protection efforts. DeWine is setting aside more than $1.2 million to provide each eligible Ohio Uber driver with a $100 payment, his office announced.
The attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia are participating in the settlement, under which Uber agrees to maintain a comprehensive data security program to protect the personal information of its riders and drivers.
Uber learned in November 2016 that hackers had gained access to the names and driver’s license numbers of about 600,000 Uber drivers nationwide, including more than 12,000 in Ohio.
The breach triggered laws in Ohio and other states requiring the company to notify affected individuals, but Uber waited until November 2017 to report it.
Uber has agreed to strengthen its corporate governance and data security practices to help prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Eligible Ohio drivers are those who drove or applied to drive for Uber prior to November 2016 and whose driver’s license numbers were accessed during the 2016 breach, even if they no longer drive for the company. An outside settlement administrator will be appointed to distribute the payments to eligible drivers in the coming months, DeWine said.