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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has announced a recent “acquisition” to the team, no one other than Facebook’s former chief officer of security.
For five years has Joe Sullivan occupied the office of supervisor over Facebook’s security policies and actions, but he has jumped ship to accept a recently created spot at Uber.
Uber, a $41 billion ride-sharing international company, is on the rise and it supports millions of trips each day. But “with great power comes great responsibility”, so Uber’s security issues have increased as well, threatening to plague its service.
Starting last week, Uber started a refunding policy for customers who were wrongfully charged for rides they did not take, due to hacking attacks on private accounts.
The company has announced back in February that its core security system had been breached; consequently, drivers’ licenses, names and addresses were accessed and the information on more than 50,000 drivers stored in Uber’s database was exposed.
What earned the company a lot of bad credit was the fact that the breach actually happened back in September 2014, making it a five months gap between the event and the informing of Uber drivers.
Sullivan’s responsibility is not only to be an apt supervisor over the implementation of new security policies that will reshape Uber’s cyber-infrastructure. He is also to sort the firm’s numerous scandals that arose on the matter of physical security – both of its drivers and passengers alike.
Even though Uber’s detailed plan on the reinforced security practices is still in the dark, we know that it aims at implementing biometrics and create a more secure environment through driver monitoring. Kalanick also added a new and fruitful collaboration with local and national authorities in the locations where Uber operates.
Following several events when Uber drivers were accused of sexually assaulting passengers, the company decided it was imperious that a panic button was introduced. Uber added the feature as an in-app option, which automatically alerts concerned authorities.
Investigations were launched for the incidents, along with a 24/7 Incident Response Team that is available as first response. Physical and cybersecurity are expected to flourish at Uber with Sullivan as the head of security, with several innovative programs.
Sullivan brings with him a great deal of experience in the security field – previously hired by eBay and Facebook during their speedy development, and he stated he’s looking forward “to bringing the best practices” to Uber.
Image Source: New York Post
