Facebook confirms company-wide shakeup based around privacy
Facebook has confirmed a company shakeup focused on data security.
Not long after coming to an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to improve its privacy practices, Facebook confirmed a company-wide reorganization that resulted in the appointment of five new officials who will report directly to CEO and founder of the social network Mark Zuckerberg.
The news was first reported by AllThingsD reporter Liz Gannes when sources told her about the move on December 7. That day, a company memo was sent to employees describing the reorganization and what it would mean for the company.
On December 8, Facebook officials confirmed to Gannes that a shakeup of the company's structure had taken place.
“We can confirm that in order to streamline the product development process, we have reorganized our technical teams into product groups that report into Mark. These groups will be lead by Bret Taylor, Chris Cox, Greg Badros, Mike Schroepfer and Sam Lessin," Facebook told AllThingsD in a statement, Gannes reported.
Gannes' followup to her original report did not go into great detail about which areas of Facebook will be affected by the moves, but she did originally report that data privacy and data security practices were at the heart of the shift.
"The new structure integrates design, product and engineering teams around key product areas such as privacy and communication," Gannes reported on December 7.
Just a week before, on November 29, the FTC announced the agreement with Facebook that effectively settled a number of data privacy issues that had surrounded the company during the past several years. Among the areas addressed were the fact that user content remained accessible even after a user deleted an account and profile
Under the agreement, Facebook must disclose to users any changes to its privacy policy while also submitting to mandatory FTC auditing, among other things.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Facebook has been generally organized as one big startup company where groups of engineers were heavily involved in both decision-making and day-to-day operations. With the recently confirmed shakeup, the Chronicle stated, it appears as though the company is going for a more traditional setup where decisions are centralized with core personnel, who in this case would be the five new appointees.
In addition to the FTC settlement, the Chronicle also reported that these latest moves could be in preparation for the company's impending initial public offering.
Security News from SimplySecurity.com by Trend Micro
Spotlight
Cloud Computing
- Wall Street has data security concerns over Bloomberg reporting
- Security in backups means more than just encryption
- Employees must buy into the company policy for better cloud security
- Desktop virtualization can enhance security performance
Virtualization
- Virtualization-specific challenges could threaten data security
- Evolving threats put security skills in high demand
- Virtualization security requires education, access control management
- Tips for launching effective virtual security tools
Internet Safety
- Virtualization-specific challenges could threaten data security
- Evolving threats put security skills in high demand
- Virtualization security requires education, access control management
- Tips for launching effective virtual security tools
Vulnerabilities & Exploits
CTO Insights
First Line of Defense
Newsletter
Stay up to date with the latest news and information on online threats.
Recent News
- US makes large investment in cyber weaponry
- SEC may ask for more information after cyberattacks
- FBI trying to train financial execs on cyber threats
- Wall Street has data security concerns over Bloomberg reporting
Tag Cloud
cloud cloud computing cloud computing security Cloud Security Compliance & Regulations Consumerization Current News cybercrime Data Privacy data security Encryption Government Policy Internet Protection Internet Safety Internet Safety - DO NOT USE Internet Security Malware Mobile Security Mobility Policy Policy - DO NOT USE Privacy Privacy & Policy Private Cloud Public Cloud Reports Research Spotlight threat intelligence threat research Trend Labs Underground Economy virtualization Vulnerabilities Vulnerabilities - DO NOT USE web security web threats
Comments
No comments yet