The personal data of up to 14 million people in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey has been stolen by online criminals in a cyber-attack on the systems of Dubai ride sharing platform Careem.
On January 14, the company detected the breach in the computer systems which hold the account data of customers and captains – or drivers – in 78 cities in 13 countries. Names, email addresses, phone numbers, as well as trip data was stolen.
At the time of the attack, Careem had 14 million customers and 558,000 captains on its platform. Those who have signed up since then are not affected by the breach.
It is the first successful cyber-attack of this magnitude on the company, according to Careem.
It said that there is no evidence that passwords, which are encrypted, or credit card numbers, which are kept with a highly-secure external third party, have been compromised.
No fraud or misuse related to the stolen information has been discovered so far by the company.
On January 14th, the company said it was alerted to a message the hacker had left on its system. It immediately investigated the incident, and together with an external cyber security firm put in place measures to protect the data and ensure its services were not disrupted.
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Careem said it successfully identified and secured the source of the breach and has now strengthened its network defences.
Relevant law enforcement agencies will be notified in due course and the company is collaborating with Interpol. Careem’s servers are located in Ireland. It will also notify Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, Careem said.
"We regularly review and update our security systems – this time it wasn't enough to prevent an attack," Careem said in an email it will send to its customers on Monday, which The National has seen in advance, apologising for the security failure.
Mudassir Sheikha, Careem chief executive and co-founder told The National that "throughout the incident, our priority has been to protect the data and privacy of our customers and captains. Since we discovered the criminal activity, we worked to understand the situation, who was affected, and what we needed to do. We're sorry for what happened, but Careem has learned from this and will come out stronger and more resilient."
Careem, which has expanded its services to 90 cities and 14 countries this year, is making a huge investment in digital security off the back of the January incident and has hired “leading cyber security experts”.
The RTA, which uses Careem’s ride hailing app for its taxis, is not affected by the attack, as it does not share any of its drivers' data with the company.
According to the UAE Telecommunications Regulations Authority, hackers targeted 34 websites in January, including eight data breaches.
In November, rival Uber said it had paid hackers to delete the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers in an attack that the company did not disclose had happened for more than a year. Its chief security officer was dismissed over the incident.
Cyber security threats around the world are on the rise and last May, major companies such as FedEx and Telefonica, and public institutions including the UK's National Health Service, were victims of a world-wide WannaCry ransomware attack.
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab at the time recorded more than 45,000 attacks in 74 countries worldwide, including the UK, UAE, Spain, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Napoleon
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Mica
Director: Ismael Ferroukhi
Stars: Zakaria Inan, Sabrina Ouazani
3 stars
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