Internal Uber employees helped ex-boyfriends stalk their ex-girlfriends and searched for the trip information of celebrities such as Beyoncé, the company’s former forensic investigator said. “Uber’s lack of security regarding its customer data was resulting in Uber employees being able to track high profile politicians, celebrities, and even personal acquaintances of Uber employees, including ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, and ex-spouses,” Spangenberg wrote in a court declaration, signed in October under penalty of perjury. Spangenberg, who is suing the minicab company alleging age discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, made the claims in a court declaration in October. It acknowledged that it had fired employees for improper access, putting the number at “fewer than 10.” 
 
 “We have hundreds of security and privacy experts working around the clock to protect our data,” Uber said in a statement. This includes enforcing to authorised employees solely for purposes of their job responsibilities, and all potential violations are quickly and thoroughly investigated.” 
 
 Spangenberg told CIR that Uber had increased security provisions during his time there, as well as renaming the tool “Heaven View”. The controversy – and an entrepreneur’s claim that he was tracked as well – drew attention to the company’s internal God View tool, which provided a real-time aerial view of Uber cars in a city and details of who was inside of them. He says he told Uber executives including the company’s head of information security, John Flynn, and its HR chief Andrew Wegley, of his concerns around the lack of security, and was fired 11 months later. To prevent spying on celebrities, Uber implemented a flag for searches for customers considered “MVP”, but Spangenberg pointed out that that did nothing to protect non-MVPs. Uber confirmed that some employees – “fewer than 10” – had been fired for abusing the tool, and said that it needs to provide relatively widespread access for a number of reasons, including refunding customers and investigating accidents. “Uber would lock down the office and immediately cut all connectivity so that law enforcement could not access Uber’s information,” his declaration states. I would then be tasked with purchasing all new equipment for the office within the day, which I did when Uber’s Montreal office was raided.” 
 
 
 
 Spangenberg’s allegations were reported by the Centre for Investigative Reporting’s (CIR) Reveal project, but it isn’t the first time Uber has been accused of mistreating customer data.
– Uber employees are being accused of using customer data to track "high profile politicians, celebrities, and even ... ex-boyfriends/girlfriends and ex-spouses," NBC News reports. That quote comes from a lawsuit filed by Ward Spangenberg in October but first reported by Reveal this week. The former forensic investigator at Uber is accusing the ride-sharing company of a multitude of things, including age discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and encrypting data to keep authorities from seeing it. Spangenberg claims he was fired after objecting to Uber practices he considered "reckless and illegal." But perhaps of most concern to customers is Uber's alleged handling of their data. Five former Uber security professionals tell Reveal that Uber employees have "broad access" to customer data. “When I was at the company, you could stalk an ex or look up anyone’s ride with the flimsiest of justifications,” a former senior security engineer says. “It didn’t require anyone’s approval.” Uber responds that it's "absolutely untrue that 'all' or 'nearly all' employees have access to customer data," though it adds "fewer than 10" employees have been fired for abusing the ride-tracking "Heaven View" (formerly "God View") tool, the Guardian reports. It says employees need access to that tool for things like refunds and accident investigations. The company says it now flags any Heaven View searches for "MVP" customers, such as celebrities.