Joseph Sullivan,
the former chief security officer at
Uber Technologies,
was sentenced to three years’ probation by a federal court in San Francisco, over criminal obstruction charges relating to a 2016 data breach at the ride-hailing giant.
District Judge
William Orrick
delivered the sentence Thursday, a long-awaited verdict in a case that has divided opinion within the cybersecurity industry. Judge Orrick said that because of Mr. Sullivan’s character, the unusual nature of the case and that it was the first of its kind, he had shown Mr. Sullivan leniency, but he said chief information security officers shouldn’t expect that in future cases.
“If there are more, people should expect to spend time in custody, regardless of anything, and I hope everybody here recognizes that,” he said. In addition to probation, Mr. Sullivan must also serve 200 hours of community service, and pay a fine of $50,000.
The cybersecurity industry has closely watched Mr. Sullivan’s case, which is a rare example of a security executive being charged in the aftermath of an incident. A stiff sentence, current and former security…
