WeWork CEO steps down as company battles data leak

New York, Sep 25 (IANS) Co-sharing workspace company WeWork, battling customers' data leak, has bid goodbye to its CEO Adam Neumann after its Japanese investor SoftBank made it clear that he has to go.

WeWork's Board of Directors late Tuesday announced Neumann has decided to step back from his role as CEO, and will continue on as non-executive chairman of the board.

"WeWork's Artie Minson, formerly co-president and chief financial officer, and Sebastian Gunningham, formerly vice chairman, have been named co-CEOs of the company," WeWork said in a statement.

"As co-founder of WeWork, I am so proud of this team and the incredible company that we have built over the last decade. Our global platform now spans 111 cities in 29 countries, serving more than 527,000 members each day," said Neumann.

"While our business has never been stronger, in recent weeks, the scrutiny directed toward me has become a significant distraction, and I have decided that it is in the best interest of the company to step down as chief executive," he added.

Neumann's wife and WeWork co-founder Rebekah Neumann is reported to have stepped down from her role as well.

"The eclectic executive has faced increasing pressure to relinquish his throne after another report from the WSJ highlighted his drug use and desires to become Israel's Prime Minister, among other strange behaviours," reports TechCrunch.

SoftBank and its associated Vision Fund is WeWork's largest shareholder. SoftBank CEO Masa Son was apparently in favour of ousting Neumann.

WeWork has also been reported to be leaking customers' particulars through poorly protected Wi-Fi network.

The information leaked includes customers' email addresses, financial records, client databases as well as scans of people's IDs, their bank account credentials, and other sensitive information.

According to Jonathan Knudsen, Senior Security Strategist, Synopsys Software Integrity Group, users must realise that shared WiFi networks do very little in the way of assurance about confidentiality.

"Organisations should be proactive in defining and implementing a software security strategy. It's surprisingly easy to get started. Without a security initiative in place, your organisation's risk depends on vendors, suppliers, and the vicissitudes of fate," Knudsen said in a statement shared with IANS.

Tim Mackey, Principal Security Strategist, Synopsys Software Integrity Group, said accessing sensitive information in any share space, including WeWork, is fundamentally no different than accessing network resources over a public network such as those in coffee shops, airports or hotels.