SAN FRANCISCO: Ride-hailing service Uber has poached Facebook chief security officer Joe Sullivan, a former federal prosecutor and senior in-house counsel.
According to an Uber announcement Thursday, Sullivan will be working primarily on data security and safety. A blog post, written by both Sullivan and chief executive officer Travis Kalanick, emphasized the importance of trying to protect Uber users’ data and their personal wellbeing.
“We are both in cyberspace and on city streets all at once; a bridge between bits and atoms,” wrote Kalanick. Sullivan mirrored Kalanick’s dual-world rhetoric, saying he was excited for the multi-faceted task.
“I look forward to bringing the best practices that I’ve learned along the way to Uber and doing defining work in bridging the divide between the digital and physical worlds,” Sullivan said.
By tackling both personal and cyber security, Sullivan is going to have a lot on his hands. Uber is currently facing a lawsuit that alleges an Uber driver raped a passenger in Delhi. Another lawsuit, filed jointly by Los Angeles and San Francisco District Attorneys, claims that Uber doesn’t live up to the “industry-setting” background checks it purports to use on new drivers. And in February, the company announced it had suffered a data breach that could have affected up to 50,000 drivers.
Sullivan said his decision to leave Facebook “wasn’t easy,” but he is excited about the opportunities at Uber moving forward.
“Uber is leading the frontier for all sharing services,” said Bruner, who does not personally know Sullivan. “To me, it looks like Sullivan enjoys being at the forefront. Ebay, PayPal, and Facebook those were all the Uber of the day back then.”
