Uber hacking scandal proves ghost of ousted Travis Kalanick still haunts the ride-hailing company
t's safe to say that 2017 will go down as probably the worst year for Uber. The ride-hailing company has faced back-to-back accusations of sexual discrimination, bullying, intellectual property theft, all of which culminated with the departure of several executives including founder and CEO Travis Kalanick. And just when the public thought it couldn't get any worse, the company announced on Tuesday that it concealed a massive cyber-attack that took place late last year.
Bloomberg's Eric Newcomer reported that Uber was aware of a data breach that took place in October 2016 that affected around around 57 million customers whose personal data had been stolen. The company confessed to having paid $100,000 to the hackers to delete the stolen data and prevent the news from going public. What's more, all of this was known to ex-CEO Travis Kalanick, and yet the ousted founder did nothing about it. The current CEO's apology for the hack left out the part about Kalanick's role in all of this. Kalanick is yet to explain his reason for trying to cover up an attack that could have exposed millions of customers' personal data at a time when cyber-attacks have been on the rise.
The report of the cyber-attack was perhaps the icing on the cake as far as the company's luck would have it. A data breach like this would be bad on its own merit, but knowing that it comes following a series of issues the company has been reeling from over the past few months makes things worse. And the one person who keep recurring in these stories is Travis Kalanick. Despite his exit from the company and a new leadership under Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber is still very much lingering in Kalanick's shadow.
That same month, Kalanick was caught on video having an argument with an Uber driver over fares. The video showed Kalanick accusing the driver for failing to take responsibilities for his own income. The whole incident questioned Kalanick's leadership skills, which pushed the company to find someone who he could work with.
The past year under Kalanick quickly turned Uber from one of the biggest private firms to a company that was being known for its culture of sexism, bullying and mismanagement. There was now a need for a dynamic leader who could bring the company back from under the ashes.
But given the timing of his entry, Khosrowshahi had a lot of fires to douse, which by no means is an easy task. The silver lining to this was that despite the events of the past year, Uber financial situation was still good. The company is still in a good position today, and the recent cyber-attack may hurt the company further, but not so much as to cause a collapse. This still gives time for Khosrowshahi to turn the company around.
Any other business would have probably been buried by now after these events. But Uber, being a ride hailing company, has achieved a market share and customer loyalty that is strong and challenged only by a handful of companies like Lyft and Ola (in the case of India).
So where does Uber go from now? Hopefully, the data breach story is the last of company's worst problems. There is still a lot of damage control that needs to be dealt with and Khosrowshahi is leading the charge. The disclosure of the breach, as late as it may have been, can also be seen as a positive step in the company's progress to mend its ways. The silver lining here is that the company clean during Khosrowshahi's term and not when Kalanick was in charge.
Bloomberg's Eric Newcomer reported that Uber was aware of a data breach that took place in October 2016 that affected around around 57 million customers whose personal data had been stolen. The company confessed to having paid $100,000 to the hackers to delete the stolen data and prevent the news from going public. What's more, all of this was known to ex-CEO Travis Kalanick, and yet the ousted founder did nothing about it. The current CEO's apology for the hack left out the part about Kalanick's role in all of this. Kalanick is yet to explain his reason for trying to cover up an attack that could have exposed millions of customers' personal data at a time when cyber-attacks have been on the rise.
The report of the cyber-attack was perhaps the icing on the cake as far as the company's luck would have it. A data breach like this would be bad on its own merit, but knowing that it comes following a series of issues the company has been reeling from over the past few months makes things worse. And the one person who keep recurring in these stories is Travis Kalanick. Despite his exit from the company and a new leadership under Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber is still very much lingering in Kalanick's shadow.
Uber's series of unfortunate events
It's been a long and troubling year for the ride-hailing company, which mainly began in February when a former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, blogged about a culture of sexual harassment in the workplace and in particular from a manager all of which was ignored by the human resources department. Later that month, Uber found itself squaring off against Google's self-driving car spinoff, Waymo, which filed a lawsuit against the ride-hailing company accusing a former executive of stealing confidential self-driving technology from Google.That same month, Kalanick was caught on video having an argument with an Uber driver over fares. The video showed Kalanick accusing the driver for failing to take responsibilities for his own income. The whole incident questioned Kalanick's leadership skills, which pushed the company to find someone who he could work with.
Uber concealed data breach that affected 57 million users, hackers were paid $100,000
In March, there were reports that Uber was using a secret tool, called Greyball, that allowed the company to avoid regulators in places where the service was banned or restricted. A number of top executives like Jeff Jones and Rachel Whetsone started leaving the company following the sexual harassment allegations and the general crisis in Uber's management. These incidents and more finally gave Uber's board reasons to pressure Kalanick to step down, which he did in July. The past year under Kalanick quickly turned Uber from one of the biggest private firms to a company that was being known for its culture of sexism, bullying and mismanagement. There was now a need for a dynamic leader who could bring the company back from under the ashes.
Post-Kalanick era
After Dara Khosrowshahi took over the reins as CEO of Uber in August, hope had once again rekindled that the company could come out strong and wash away the error of its ways. Khosrowshahi was seen not only as a experienced top executive who could speak his mind, but he was also known to advocate for women for equal pay and leadership. This was desperately needed as the firm was being seen as encouraging a culture of sexism and harassment.But given the timing of his entry, Khosrowshahi had a lot of fires to douse, which by no means is an easy task. The silver lining to this was that despite the events of the past year, Uber financial situation was still good. The company is still in a good position today, and the recent cyber-attack may hurt the company further, but not so much as to cause a collapse. This still gives time for Khosrowshahi to turn the company around.
Any other business would have probably been buried by now after these events. But Uber, being a ride hailing company, has achieved a market share and customer loyalty that is strong and challenged only by a handful of companies like Lyft and Ola (in the case of India).
So where does Uber go from now? Hopefully, the data breach story is the last of company's worst problems. There is still a lot of damage control that needs to be dealt with and Khosrowshahi is leading the charge. The disclosure of the breach, as late as it may have been, can also be seen as a positive step in the company's progress to mend its ways. The silver lining here is that the company clean during Khosrowshahi's term and not when Kalanick was in charge.
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