Two US states said Wednesday they are investigating Uber's cover-up of a hack at the ride-sharing giant that compromised the personal information of 57 million users and drivers.

Uber purportedly paid data thieves $100,000 to destroy the swiped information -- and remained quiet about the breach for a year.

That decision evidently came despite a promise by the firm to "adopt leading data security protection practices" in a settlement with New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman.

Schneiderman and his counterpart in Connecticut, George Jepsen, on Wednesday told AFP that Uber is the target of probes in their states over the hidden hack.

"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over at the company in August, said Tuesday.