For an attempt to cover up a 2016 data breach in which hackers accessed tens of millions of customer records, the former chief security officer for Uber was convicted on Wednesday.
A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Joseph Sullivan of obstructing justice and concealing knowledge that a federal felony had been committed, federal prosecutors said.
Sullivan could face a total of eight years in prison on the two charges, said the prosecutors.
A vast amount of user data are collected and stored by technology companies in the Northern District of California, US Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds said in a statement. We will not tolerate concealment of important information from the public by corporate executives more interested in protecting their reputation and that of their employers than in protecting users, she added.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Sullivan, David Angeli, took issue with the verdict.
Mr Sullivan's sole focus in this incident and throughout his distinguished career has been ensuring the safety of people's personal data on the internet, Angeli told the New York Times.
Sullivan was hired as Uber's chief security officer in 2015. In November 2016, Sullivan was emailed by hackers, and employees quickly confirmed that they had stolen records on about 57 million users and also 600,000 driver's license numbers, prosecutors said.
After learning of the breach, Sullivan began a scheme to hide it from the public and the Federal Trade Commission, which had been investigating a smaller 2014 hack, authorities said.
Uber's new management began investigating the breach in the fall of 2017. Despite Sullivan lying to the new chief executive officer and others, the truth was uncovered and the breach was made public, prosecutors said.
Sullivan was fired along with Craig Clark, an Uber lawyer he had told about the breach. Clark was given immunity by prosecutors and testified against Sullivan.
The hackers pleaded guilty in 2019 to computer fraud conspiracy charges and are awaiting sentencing.
Sullivan was convicted of obstruction of proceedings of the Federal Trade Commission and misprision of felony, meaning concealing knowledge of a felony from authorities.
Meanwhile, some experts have questioned how much cybersecurity has improved at Uber since the breach.
The lone hacker apparently gained access posing as a colleague, tricking an Uber employee into surrendering their credentials. Screenshots the hacker shared with security researchers indicate they obtained full access to the cloud-based systems where Uber stores sensitive customer and financial data.
It is not known how much data the hacker stole or how long they were inside Uber's network. There was no indication they destroyed data.
(With inputs from PTI)