Uber hired ex-CIA employees to spy on its competitors

Фото: Depositphotos

Passenger transportation company Uber hired former employees of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in order to keep track of their competitors and explore their commercial secrets.

This was told by a former security manager Uber Richard Jacobs during the trial, writes NBC News.

On the process of the case of theft of technology, in which the company developing unmanned cars Waymo blames Uber, Jacobs said the company hired people to infiltrate competitors' computer networks, and former CIA employees were among those employees. According to him, operations on hacking competitors' computers were carried out from abroad.

Jacobs was fired from Uber seven months ago, after that, his lawyer sent a 37-page letter to the court stating that the hired Uber the team was engaged in the theft of trade secrets and tried to cover their tracks using special computers and devices that did not leave “digital fingerprints.”

In court, Jacobs confirmed the information in the letter, after that Waymo asked the judge to postpone the commencement of hearings on the merits, which were due to start next week, so that she had time to gather additional evidence.

Waymo went to court in February to ban Uber and its subsidiary Otto use the technology of an unmanned vehicle, accusing these companies of stealing technologies, in particular a special laser radar for unmanned cars. The company also demanded payment of $ 1,9 billion in cash.

Waymo argued that the co-founder Otto Anthony Lewandowski before leaving 2016 in January Google (Waymo is part of this giant), took with itself more than 14 thousands of confidential files, among which were radar drawings. In August 2016 of the year Uber I bought Otto for $ 680 million. In May 2017, a guide Uber He dismissed Lewandowski from the position of lead engineer, explaining this decision by his unwillingness to assist in investigating the alleged data theft. In this case, the company denies his guilt.

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