If it's a big company, couldn't he also get ahead of the story to protect himself and announce the breach via Medium or reaching out to media? I mean the compa

If it's a big company, couldn't he also get ahead of the story to protect himself and announce the breach via Medium or reaching out to media? I mean the company already threw him under the bus, might as well transition from 'possible hacker' to 'whistleblower'. People tend to look more favorably on whistleblowers. But IANAL, so YMMV and what not. Edit: I'm betting the CEO would rather NOT be known for a data breach, and get that publicity. So it might be a good bartering place for getting a good 'written' recommendation, and some sort of assurance that the CEO if contacted will stick to what he said in the recommendation and not paint the ex-employee in a negative light. Not sure if there's a legal contract for this sort of exchange - but there probably is.