Former Uber Boss Found Guilty Of Hiding Massive Data Breach From Authorities

A former Uber boss has been found guilty of covering up a data breach. A San Francisco jury found Uber Technologies Inc's former Chief Security Office Joseph Sullivan guilty of criminal obstruction over failure to report a cybersecurity incident in 2016 to authorities.

Sullivan was fired from Uber in 2017 and has been found guilty on two counts - obstruction of justice and deliberate concealment of felony. "Sullivan affirmatively worked to hide the data breach from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and took steps to prevent the hackers from being caught," said Stephanie Hinds, US Attorney for the Northern District of California, Reuters reported.

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The tale of Uber's data breach in 2016

This breach affected about 57 million passengers and drivers that use Uber. For a year after the breach, the company failed to report the breach.

In July, 2022, Uber accepted responsibility for the cover up and proceeded to cooperate in the prosecution of Sullivan for his alleged role in hiding the hack. This way, Uber was able to escape criminal charges.

Reuters

Also read: Uber Used Sophisticated Technology To Evade Raids By Authorities, Report Claims

In September 2018, Uber had to shell out $148 million to settle claims by all 50 states in the US (along with Washington DC) for its failure to report the data breach on time.

Uber's Joseph Sullivan was also accused of withholding information from Uber officials who could have reported the data breach to the Federal Trade Commission.

Also read: Uber Eats Delivered Food In Space For Astronauts On International Space Station

Reuters

According to the prosecutors, after his original indictment in September, 2020, Sullivan arranged to pay the hackers $100,000 in bitcoin. He also allegedly made them sign non-disclosure agreements that wrongly claimed that the hackers hadn't stolen any data from Uber.

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Uber had been on FTC's radar since 2014, when the company had suffered a similar data breach.

What do you think about data breaches and the role played by tech giants like Uber in such incidents? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Reuters. (2022b, October 6). Jury finds former Uber security chief guilty of concealing data breach. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/legal/jury-finds-former-uber-security-chief-guilty-concealing-data-breach-2022-10-05/