Data breaches that put consumer data at risk have become commonplace; this suit involving one such breach is anything but. Uber's former security chief, Joe Sullivan, goes on trial this week in US District Court in San Francisco in what's thought to be the first time an executive is facing criminal charges over a data breach. He's accused of obstructing justice and concealing a felony by not disclosing a 2016 hack. What you need to know:
- Sullivan is accused of covering up the breach, which compromised the data of 57 million Uber riders and drivers and wasn't shared with the public or regulators until Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed it in November 2017. During that announcement, he also said that Sullivan had been fired.
- As part of the alleged cover-up, Sullivan is accused of trying to recast the hack as a part of Uber's "bug bounty" program, in which vulnerabilities in Uber's system could be reported for cash. But in this case, the hackers actually obtained personal info, which wasn't permitted under the program. They were reportedly paid a then-record $100,000, and allegedly told by Sullivan to sign an NDA that "falsely represented that the hackers had not obtained or stored any data during their intrusion," federal prosecutors allege, per the Guardian.