Hertz Global has disclosed that a data breach involving one of its vendors may have exposed personal information of some of its customers. The breach stemmed from Cleo Communications, a company that provides file transfer services to Hertz.
According to the company, the breach involved the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities within Cleo’s platform during the months of October and December. As a result, potentially compromised data includes customers’ contact information, credit card details, and driver’s license numbers.
In a limited number of cases, even more sensitive information such as social security numbers or passport details may have been affected. Despite the incident, Hertz confirmed through a forensic investigation that its own internal network was not impacted. Furthermore, the company stated that there is currently no evidence suggesting that any of the compromised data has been misused for fraudulent purposes.
Hertz reported revenue of $9 billion for fiscal year 2024. However, the company posted a significant net loss of $2.9 billion, which translates to a loss of $9.34 per diluted share. A notable part of its cost control efforts involved completing a previously announced reduction of 30,000 electric vehicles from its fleet in 2023.
Hertz has been focusing on a commercial strategy designed to maximize revenue per unit (RPU) by emphasizing high revenue per day (RPD) business while ensuring fleet size aligns with market demand. This approach has led to a progressive narrowing of year-over-year RPU declines, from a 7 percent drop in the first quarter of 2024 to just a 1 percent decline by the fourth quarter.
Vehicle depreciation improved by 19 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, aided by the absence of a $245 million EV-related loss that was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, this benefit was partially offset by new losses on vehicle sales in the fourth quarter of 2024 due to an ongoing fleet rotation initiative. This rotation, aimed at stabilizing depreciation per unit (DPU), is expected to be largely completed by the end of 2025, with DPU projected to drop below $300.
Operating costs have also seen some pressures; direct vehicle and operating expenses rose 2 percent compared to the prior year, mainly because of increased insurance costs and non-cash rent expenses tied to asset impairments recognized earlier in the year. The combination of these expenses and lower rental volume led to a 6 percent year-over-year rise in direct operating expenses (DOE) per transaction day.
InfotechLead.com News Desk
