MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The state of Alabama is getting $2 million from a nationwide settlement involving Uber.
Attorney General Steve Marshall says the money is the state’s portion of a $148 million agreement with the ridesharing company.
“This situation underscores how important Alabama’s new data breach notification law is for our consumers,” said Marshall. “People have the right to know if their personal information is stolen or compromised in a data breach so that they may exercise vigilance and take any actions possible to protect themselves. Until this year, Alabama was one of only two states without a data breach notification law, and I am pleased we were successful in passing legislation to correct that omission.”
All 50 states and the District of Columbia are part of the settlement, which stems from a data breach about personal information of Uber drivers in 2016. The company failed to report what happened for a year.
A statement from Marshall’s office says Alabama didn’t have a law requiring notification of data breaches at the time. But a law has since been passed to address such situations, and the settlement came under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The statement says hackers gained access to personal information about some 600,000 Uber drivers nationwide two years ago.