Three senior managers in Uber Technologies Inc.’s security unit resigned on Friday, only days after the company disclosed a massive data breach, Reuters noted.
Uber in November fired former Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan, over his alleged role in the 2016 data breach, which compromised data belonging to 57 million customers and about 600,000 drivers, the report noted.
The fallout didn't end there. The three security team resignations included:
- Pooja Ashok, chief of staff for Sullivan;
- Prithvi Rai, a senior security engineer and the number two manager in the department; and
- Jeff Jones, who handled physical security, Uber said said. Ashok and Jones will remain at the company until January to assist in transition, the spokesperson said.
It sounds like the three resignations were tied to job stress rather than any alleged wrongdoing by the individuals. The security team has faced intense scrutiny since Uber disclosed the break a few weeks ago. A fourth individual, Uber’s head of Global Threat Operations, Mat Henley, began a three-month medical leave, according to Reuters.
Uber suffered a data breach in October 2016 that allegedly was concealed by Sullivan and in-house attorney Craig Clark, according to Bloomberg. The Uber data breach affected approximately 50 million customers and 7 million drivers, Bloomberg stated. In addition, 600,000 U.S. driver’s license numbers were compromised during the breach. New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described the incident in this blog.
Data Breaches Trigger Talent Exits
Executive departures following massive security breach disclosures appear to be the norm.
For instance, Equifax’s CIO and chief information security officer (CISO) each retired in September after that company suffered a massive breach. Former CEO Richard Smith also resigned amid the fallout.
