London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

Uber’s former security chief found guilty of hiding 2016 data breach

Uber’s former security chief found guilty of hiding 2016 data breach

The Uber verdict marks a rare instance where a corporate information security officer was criminally charged with failing to disclose a hacking
Uber’s former security chief on Wednesday was found guilty of hiding a 2016 data breach from authorities and obstructing a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the company’s security practices, according to reports.

Joe Sullivan, 53, who headed security for Facebook before joining Uber, was found guilty in San Francisco federal court after a three-week trial. It marked a rare instance where a corporate information security officer was criminally charged with failing to disclose a hacking.

In his opening argument, Andrew Dawson, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of California told the court this case was "about cover-up, about payoff and about lies," The Wall Street Journal reported.

A federal judge ruled over the summer that Sullivan must face wire fraud charges over his purported involvement in attempting to cover up the 2016 hacking, exposing personal information of 57 million of the company's drivers and passengers.

The Department of Justice said Sullivan arranged to pay $100,000 in hush money to two hackers, while also trying to hide the hacking from drivers, passengers, and the FTC.

A federal judge rejected Sullivan's claim that prosecutors failed to adequately argue he concealed the hacking in an effort to ensure that Uber drivers would not flee and would continue making service fee payments.

The judge also rejected Sullivan's assertion that those who were allegedly hacked were Uber's then-CEO Travis Kalanick and the company's general counsel, but no drivers.

Sullivan was initially indicted for his role in the scheme in September 2020.

Uber had a bounty program created to reward security researchers who report flaws. The program was not, however, designed to conceal data thefts.

The ride-sharing company's current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, terminated Sullivan's employment after learning about the extent of his breach.

The company paid $148 million in September 2018 to settle claims by all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., with each alleging Uber was too slow to disclose the hacking.

Sullivan faces as much as eight years in prison and $500,000 in fines, but U.S. District Judge William Orrick has yet to set a sentencing date.

FOX Business has reached out to Uber and Sullivan's attorney for comment.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
×