Cybersecurity
Uber Ex-Security Chief Charged With Covering Up Data Hack
- Sullivan allegedly paid off hackers and didn’t tell regulator
- Hackers already pleaded guilty to computer fraud last year
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Uber Technologies Inc.’s former chief security officer Joseph Sullivan was charged with covering up a 2016 data breach that compromised the personal information of 57 million drivers and users.
Rather than report the breach to the Federal Trade Commission, which was investigating an earlier hack at the company, Sullivan paid the hackers $100,000 in Bitcoin, according to a statement Thursday from U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson in San Francisco. Sullivan is charged with obstruction of justice and failing to report his knowledge of a felony.