When global transportation technology firm Uber Technologies Inc. announced that it had appointed Dara Khosrowshahi as its CEO after Travis Kalanick stepped down from the post, it was expected that the company would finally witness some good days and stay away from trouble at least for a while. Alas, we were mistaken.
On Friday, December 1, three senior managers at the firm stepped down and the reason behind these resignations is said to be the frustration that Uber's security team has been facing since its chief security officer Joe Sullivan was fired. All the three managers are said to be from the firm's security department.
Pooja Ashok was the chief of staff for Sullivan, Prithvi Rai, a senior security engineer and the number two manager in the department, and Jeff Jones handled physical security, an Uber spokesperson told Reuters. Ashok and Jones will stay on with the firm until January and help in the transition procedure, the spokesperson added.
While three managers have already turned in their papers, another source told the agency that Mat Henley, who is the firm's head of Global Threat Operations, has gone on a three-month medical leave.
Uber had managed to stay away from the limelight for a while, but the California-based firm made headlines, when Khosrowshahi revealed on November 21, that hackers had stolen data of about 57 million Uber riders and drivers last year.
After the revelation and the uproar it caused, Uber had fired Sullivan from his post and since then, the security team has reportedly been complaining of physical and emotional strain.
Meanwhile, Uber had a tough time explaining the hack to its users as well as its drivers. The stolen data includes names and license information of the cab service's 600,000 drivers and names and email addresses of 57 million users. Uber clarified that the breach did not include social security numbers, trip details or credit card details of the customers.
The firm also said that none of the stolen information has been misused until now, and this could be because Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to destroy the stolen data, reported the Associated Press.
"None of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it," Bloomberg quoted Khosrowshahi as saying in an emailed statement. "We are changing the way we do business."
Speaking of the stolen data and the hackers, Khosrowshahi said the firm had "obtained assurances that the downloaded data had been destroyed" and even improved its security measures. But he also added that drivers and customers should have been notified of the breach earlier and this failure led him to take several harsh steps after he joined.
The drivers then lashed out at their employer for concealing this information for such a long time and said that Uber only cares about itself. "The hack and the cover up is typical Uber only caring about themselves," the Guardian quoted Robert Judge, an Uber driver in Pittsburgh, as saying. He also revealed that Uber is yet to inform him of the hack and that he found out about it through the news. "Uber doesn't get out in front of things, they hide them."
