In a brief Uber filed related to an impending lawsuit, the company details the threats its executives face on a regular basis. The brief details how "Uber operates in a high threat environment and is a 'business that attracts a lot of volatility.'"
Uber notes that its entry into particular markets has sometimes been met with "hostile and even violent reactions," referring to anti-Uber protests that have occurred in some countries - and the company's operations apparently attracts some threatening characters, too.
From the filing:
"The security risks surrounding Uber's high-profile executives are of particular concern. [Chief Security Officer Joseph] Sullivan's team handles daily threats from people 'show[ing] up in our lobbies, accost[ing] our executives, flam[ing] them on Twitter, sen[ding] them death threats, show[ing] up outside their homes, throwing eggs at their homes, [and] threaten[ing] to file lawsuits for . . . strange reasons.'"
That last part might be in reference to the lawsuit, which Uber says is suspect, since it omits Uber as a defendant and names only Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Uber says it believed there could be a safety risk to Kalanick and asked a research firm called Ergo, staffed by many former CIA veterans, to do some background research on the plaintiff in the suit.
Ergo's investigation on Uber's behalf of the plaintiff and his lawyer has not been well-received by the judge overseeing the case.