Dropbike data security concerns

UBC takes the personal data security and privacy of our students, faculty, staff and community members very seriously and we have been made aware of a vulnerability issue with Dropbike’s platform.

Our understanding is that a UBC software engineering student testing the Dropbike system uncovered a way to access parts of Dropbike’s national customer service platform. The student responsibly reported the issue to Dropbike, who have informed us the problematic code has subsequently been fixed.

Dropbike has further assured the university that to their knowledge no financial data was exposed, and that the company is not aware of any other unauthorized access to personal information on their system which has thousands of users in many cities across Canada and at UBC.

As Dropbike is a third-party business licensed to operate on campus, UBC has no involvement in the creation and maintenance of the Dropbike platform. For further information, the Dropbike Privacy Officer can be contacted via email at privacy@dropbike.ca or by mail at 325 Front Street West, Suite 4, Toronto, ON M5V 2Y1.

Dropbike is operating at UBC’s Vancouver campus under a one-year pilot license agreement that requires appropriate data security measures to be in place to protect all financial and personal information.

— Michael White, Associate Vice President, Campus and Community Planning