This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
On July 3, 2020, Egypt-based ride hailing app SWVL suffered a security breach, exposing the personal information of its passengers.
The breach, which was discovered on July 3, 2020, compromised the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of SWVL users.
According to a notice issued by SWVL, the investigation into the breach is still underway, but it has been confirmed that passwords and credit card information were not affected.
SWVL advised its customers to change their passwords on the app and on any other site where they had used the same.
SWVL's security breach is not an isolated incident, as several other ride hailing apps have fallen victim to data breaches in the past.
Uber, for instance, was hacked in 2016, with information belonging to 57 million riders and drivers accessed, including names and driver's license numbers.
Yahoo experienced multiple data breaches between 2013 and 2016, affecting three billion accounts. A security researcher also discovered an unprotected server with a database containing 419 million phone numbers belonging to Facebook users.
Additionally, Zynga, the creators of Words with friends and Draw something, were breached last year, with 218 million accounts affected.
This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting user data and the need for ride hailing apps to prioritize security measures.
