How To Avoid Data Breaches When Using Food Delivery Apps – Like The Recent Hacking Attack On Grubhub

Grubhub is facing challenges this week. Dark moments, indeed. On Monday, an unidentified hacker reportedly gained access to names and contact information on the platform’s customer support system. That means that the hacker could use those information to threaten others or even to correctly provide verification details to the customers’ bank accounts and steal money. While the situation is now fully contained, it is still best to be certain. The Ridesharing Forum team presents ways on how you can avoid these attacks.

The Grubhub cyberattack

Monday was a shocker for Grubhub and the rest of the ridesharing community. A hacker successfully broke into the platform’s customer support system, gaining access to pertinent restaurant, customer, and even driver information.

How the hacker did it is quite an interesting topic to discuss among tech enthusiasts. They were able to get in through the account of a third-party vendor – not Grubhub itself – that the food delivery platform uses to support its services. Was there an inside job or a connivance? Either way, Grubhub has hired cybersecurity experts to look into the matter, and the incident is now fully contained.

Data breached

Ridesharing media reported some crucial user data was exposed in the cyberattack, particularly the names, email addresses, and phone numbers not just of the Grubhub customers, but also of businesses (restaurants) and drivers who interacted with the platform’s customer care unit.

Worse, while the full credit card numbers were not exposed, the criminal obtained the last four digits of the customers’ card numbers.

However, login information of the customers and restaurants remained intact, as well as full card details, bank account details, and Social Security numbers.

While the investigation did to explicitly rule out connivance, as several media have reported, Grubhub said it has stopped working with that third-party vendor whose security features are questionable.

How to protect your information

Platforms like Grubhub and cybersecurity units can only do so much. Sometimes, safeguarding your personal and financial information still lies in your hands. To avoid falling victim to these attacks, experts suggest that you:

  • Use strong passwords and change your passwords from time to time.
  • Always check and read the privacy policies of the apps you use to understand how your data is collected, stored, and used. If you don’t agree to at least one of the terms, leave the app.
  • Enable two-factor authentication whenever possible.
  • Keep your software updated. Update your app when you get notified to do so.

Protecting your data from such attacks is a collaborative effort between the app’s operators and you. Keep browsing this website for more stories like this.