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UNIVERSITY
Uber: Strategic Security Policy and Potential Threats
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Lecturer’s Name and Course Number
Summary
Uber is an application that allows individuals to travel to their desired locations using their cell phone. The company was originated by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009 in San Francisco, US and according to its website, Uber, by connecting passengers with drivers through its application, makes cities more accessible, which allows more possibilities for passengers and more business for drivers. In December 2011 Uber left the United States to conquer other countries and began operating in Paris (France). In March 2012, it arrived in Toronto (Canada) and in July in London. In April 2014, it arrived in Barcelona, in September in Madrid, and in October in Valencia and Bogota. The company has not stopped growing since then. However, with the rising business, the company has faced numerous security threats in the past. Therefore, this report will point out the strategic security policy of Uber, highlight the potential threats, and devise a strategy to mitigate them.
Table of Contents
TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Summary PAGEREF _Toc9807762 \h 2
1Introduction PAGEREF _Toc9807763 \h 4
2Origin of Uber PAGEREF _Toc9807764 \h 5
3Security Situation PAGEREF _Toc9807765 \h 5
4Strategic Security Policy PAGEREF _Toc9807766 \h 5
4.1Confirmation of real-time of the driving partner PAGEREF _Toc9807767 \h 6
4.2Strengthen admission processes PAGEREF _Toc9807768 \h 6
4.3Effective communication PAGEREF _Toc9807769 \h 7
5Threats and vulnerabilities PAGEREF _Toc9807770 \h 7
6Mitigation of potential threats PAGEREF _Toc9807771 \h 8
7Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc9807772 \h 9
Bibliography PAGEREF _Toc9807773 \h 10
Introduction
"Uber is the private driver of everyone." That's the slogan of this startup originated in San Francisco. Uber is a platform through which it is possible to order and pay for transportation services, and on a daily basis, it makes more than 350,000 trips spread over five continents. The user must download the application and register a credit card. The customer chooses between different types of cars and rates and the payment is deducted from the registered card. The fares depend on each city, and in many parts of the world, the rates can be cheaper than a traditional taxi. Uber receives 20 percent of the payment. The rest is for the driver.
The rapid expansion of Uber and its penetration level in 52 countries and 249 cities is due to several reasons, which are ease of accessing the service, punctuality, and trust in the fulfillment of the requested service, cleaning and comfort of the cars, quality of service for drivers, possibility to know how much the service costs in advance and the promise of security. Drivers who work with the platform are reviewed and the comments made by users about the service are confidential.
The company founded in 2009 is one of the startups that came to break the world of business, from a small technology company to a world leader in the transport service. Currently, it has an estimated value of 68 billion dollars, surpassing others such as Xiaomi and Airbnb, according to data projected in Statista. However, today speaking about the company based in San Francisco is almost synonymous with talking about problems with security; many of them related to the safety of the users and the drivers themselves (Admin, 2017).
Origin of Uber
The idea behind Uber arose when Travis Kalanick, serial entrepreneur, and Garret Camp, co-founder of StumbleUpon, left a conference in Paris and could not find a taxi to take them to the hotel. At that moment, they thought that "it would be incredible" to have an on-demand service of transportation, with which they could go everywhere. When they returned to San Francisco, they began to develop the project and now they are well known in the whole world.
Security Situation
The security situation that different countries are experiencing has become a problem for Uber users and driving partners and although the company warned that a minimum of 8 million people and 250,000 drivers who use the platform have suffered a security incident during a trip. There are multiple concerns and doubts about the security offered by the application. The basic principle of the company is nothing more than a new economic system in which goods and services are shared and exchanged (often between private parties) through digital platforms. Uber is responsible for developing and maintaining the quality of systems, as well as offering various competitive benefits for users. It is they who are responsible for the security of its users and drivers. Based on this principle, the responsibilities of Uber is to offer the best possible application for the use of citizens. They need to implement new security tools to improve the quality and safety of each trip (Conger, 2017).
Strategic Security Policy
The strategic security policy of uber can be grouped into three guidelines: Verification of real-time of the driving partner; strengthening admission processes for both driving partners and users; as well as a communication campaign on these measures.
Confirmation of real-time of the driving partner
The application has a security feature of internal chat that enables communication between drivers and users without the need to share personal information between both, and the possibility for both users and drivers to report on trips in real time and have added more information about who drives the units. Moreover, Uber added a telematics technology that allows analyzing driving patterns, which includes variables such as acceleration, braking and a comparison between the suggested routes (Crook, 2019).
Strengthen admission processes
Since August 2017, Uber has implemented a verification mechanism for those who pay for the service in cash through Facebook, which provides more certainty to the driving partners. Despite the problems of security of information on Facebook that has been revealed in recent time, this platform is used for reasons of accessibility, since 66 million people have a Facebook account, and they can also study other options to verify the digital identity of users.
As a part of strategic security policy, with effect from September 2017, people who want to join Uber as driving partners must go to the company's service centers to perform the psychometric examination in person and since December of the same year, the company has blocked the option to the driving partners who update their photo online, so now they must do it in one of these care centers, which seeks to minimize the criminal activities. The trust filter has also been improved so that the drivers' data is verified in more than 500 federal and state databases, which includes the databases of some border states (Bawden-Davis, 2019).
Effective communication
The top security consultants of the company suggest that the communication about the incidents and the way they occur and report should be a priority for Uber. This is part of the motivation for which the company launched this security program whose actions will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Regarding whether the company could adopt an open data policy to improve both mobility and security within the cities in which it operates, any option that allows improving security should be evaluated internally. Uber must be willing to take a measure like this because this would mean giving access to the information of users and driving partners. They must evaluate all the innovative security options.
Threats and vulnerabilities
Uber may face a variety of threats and vulnerabilities. The drivers may be unhappy with profit margins. This could lead to extending bad publicity about Uber and discourage the entry of new drivers. Some legal regulations may also prohibit the use of Uber. There may also be problems with local authorities. Moreover, the increase in competition will cause a decrease in prices. This will lead to discouraging new drivers from joining these platforms. These threats will negatively harm the brand. Self-Driving cars will eradicate the need for these services. The overvaluation can also lead to overinvestment in places where there is no place for businesses of a similar kind.
The security of the uber application is also very important. The platform works through a smartphone application, whose GPS locates users location and shows the options of nearby cars available. Then, they choose the car, see the profile of the driver, contact him on his cell phone and pay with a credit card, so there is no physical exchange of money. In a few minutes, the driver appears with a car ready to take users to their destination with premium attention. It's a sophisticated, comfortable and low-cost business for the quality it offers but the possible threats cannot be ignored (Sheridan, 2017).
Mitigation of potential threats
To deal with these threats, the company need to take some serious steps to improve safety. The actions are 1) Verification of the people who register in the application; 2) Protecting the account of all users; 3) Taking care of the experience on all trips; 4) Offer the user safety functions in the application during each journey; 5) Keeping support and customer service active 24/7; 6) Guaranteeing liability insurance coverage on all trips; 7) and building a community with the best users and driving partners.
Uber needs to hire top security consultants with experience to deal with such threats. The goal should be to improve the company's processes and improve user experience. The company has implemented various functions aimed at improving the security of the app. During the last two years, there have been reported various incidents related to assaults to users. The steps described above would strengthen its strategy to strengthen user confidence.
Moreover, User verification, travel sharing and chat from the application, are the three functions that the Uber should implement to ensure the safety of its driving partners. The company must also be given importance to driver feedback and concerns. This will further enhance their technology and implement new security measures that will provide greater peace of mind and control to drivers (O'Leary, 2017).
Most of the uber users in the world have a Facebook account. This can be used to confirm the identity of users and it will be very beneficial to mitigate the potential threats. In addition, drivers must share the tracking of their trip in real time with one or up to five family or friends and should have at their disposal an emergency number available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
These functions can be added to those that already counts, such as the blocking of telephone numbers when calls are made to maintain the confidentiality of both driving partners and users. More functions and strategic alliances must be announced to improve the security of its users and drivers (Bawden-Davis, 2019).
Conclusion
Thus, Uber is a world-class transport service that has benefitted people from all parts of the world. However, this new technology has brought multiple security threats. The criminal activities which have been noticed in the past are worrisome. The strategic security policy of the organization needs to be improved in order to improve customer satisfaction. On the other hand, the safety of drivers is also very important. The recommendations given in this report are of great importance as they can help the company to fight against potential threats and vulnerabilities.
Bibliography
Admin, J. (2017). The History of Uber and their Logo Design. [online] LogoMyWay Blog. Available at: http://blog.logomyway.com/history-of-uber-and-their-logo/ [Accessed 26 May 2019].
Bawden-Davis, J. (2019). Uber Can Be Risky: 5 Reasons Why (for Drivers and Passengers). [online] SuperMoney!. Available at: https://www.supermoney.com/2016/05/5-reasons-uber-can-risky-choice-drivers-passengers/ [Accessed 26 May 2019].
Conger, K. (2017). Uber Is Getting A New Privacy Policy. [online] Gizmodo.com. Available at: https://gizmodo.com/uber-is-getting-a-new-privacy-policy-1818620713 [Accessed 26 May 2019].
Crook, J. (2019). Uber, Lyft implement new safety measures – TechCrunch. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/18/uber-lyft-implement-new-safety-measures/ [Accessed 26 May 2019].
O'Leary, R. (2017). Who's Driving Security for Uber? | WhiteHat Security. [online] WhiteHat Security. Available at: https://www.whitehatsec.com/blog/uber-security-breach/ [Accessed 26 May 2019].
Sheridan, K. (2017). Uber's Security Slip-ups: What Went Wrong. [online] Dark Reading. Available at: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/ubers-security-slip-ups-what-went-wrong/d/d-id/1330496 [Accessed 26 May 2019].
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