Uber Hires Former NSA General Counsel as Top Security Executive

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. named Matt Olsen, the former general counsel for the National Security Agency, as its chief trust and security officer.

Uber has had a sordid history when it comes to its security team. The company monitored competitors, scraped their applications for competitive intelligence and ran its own internal security agency. Uber’s security team helped to lock down computers during police raids using software called "Ripley."

Most famously, Uber concealed a hack for more than a year, dubbing it a bug bounty program. When Dara Khosrowshahi took over as chief executive officer about a year ago, he publicly disclosed the breech and pushed out Joe Sullivan, the company’s former chief security officer.

Olsen is a Washington veteran. He served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, general counsel of the NSA and in various leadership positions at other government agencies. Uber brought Olsen in as an adviser last year.

"Matt understands how Uber works and he has deep respect for the incredible talent inherent in our Security teams," Uber Chief Legal Officer Tony West wrote in an email to Uber employees shared by the company. "He’ll hit the ground running, shaping strategy and policies that will help our teams unlock their innovative potential when it comes to protecting our customers, riders and employees."

The New York Times earlier reported Olsen’s hiring.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.