Joe Sullivan (Joe Sullivan)

Joe Sullivan (Joe Sullivan)

Biography

2025: Sentence - 3 years suspended for data breach of 57 million Uber customers

In mid-March 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of USA Appeals upheld the sentence against former Chief of Service information security Uber Joe Sullivan. The process is associated with the leakage of a huge array of personal data of service customers and drivers.

The incident in question occurred in 2016. Then the hackers managed to steal information about 57 million Uber users and about 600 thousand drivers. A jury found Sullivan guilty of two charges related to an attempted leak cover-up and obstruction of investigative action. The fact is that after the hack, Sullivan initiated the payment of a ransom in the amount of $100 thousand for non-disclosure of stolen information. At the same time, he did not inform the Federal Commission on the to trade United States (FTC) about the incident, as required by the rules. Sullivan called the payment of funds a reward for discovered vulnerabilities in Uber systems.

The prosecution said Sullivan "intentionally committed acts misleading the FTC." As a result, in 2023, a US federal judge sentenced Sullivan to three years probation. However, the defendant's lawyers appealed. The defence insisted Sullivan was not guilty of providing false information as a nondisclosure agreement signed between hackers and Uber meant their actions were no longer illegal.

Having considered the arguments of the lawyers, the court rejected the appeal. According to the ruling, Sullivan "knew that his actions were a crime punishable by more than a year in prison." In addition, one of the hackers pleaded guilty to hacking charges, which makes the defense's claims controversial. As a result, the previous verdict was upheld.^[1]

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