Uber: former security chief under indictment

Joe Sullivan faces up to 8 years in prison for two charges: 5 years for obstructing justice and 3 years for concealing a crime. The facts date back to 2016, when the former head of security of Uber would have decided to pay hackers to prevent them from spreading stolen data and - above all - that the incident would reach the ears of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). br>

Uber: data breach and redemptions

In 2016, Uber suffered an extremely significant data theft: 57 million profiles, belonging to drivers and customers of the company, were stolen. What may have prompted Sullivan to decide to pay hackers to destroy the stolen data would be the presence of a first, major, data breach that had already occurred in 2014.

Indeed, it seems that the call from part of the hackers arrived at the former head of security at Uber just as he collaborated in the investigation to find out about the first information theft. Sullivan may have decided to pay $ 100,000 in bitcoin precisely to prevent the second data breach from spreading, putting at risk not only the fate of the stolen information, but also that of the company. Payment was to be made through a bug bounty program and, soon after, those responsible for the data theft were to destroy what was stolen and sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement).