http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc20081118_067329.htm



By Michael Orey

BusinessWeek

November 18, 2008



Allegations of trade-secret theft by an employee of chipmaker Intel 

(INTC) shed light on the surprising vulnerability of one of the world's 

biggest and most sophisticated technology companies.



Biswamohan Pani, a low-level engineer at Intel, made off with 

information valued by Intel at more than $1 billion, according to a Nov.

5 indictment. Pani is due to appear in Boston federal court to be 

arraigned on Nov. 20.



Pani allegedly used the simplest of ruses to walk away with some of the 

chipmaker's most valuable and closely guarded information, and Intel 

later learned of the actions seemingly by chance. The case could provide 

an object lesson for companies hoping to keep their data from walking 

out the door with departing staff. "It's amazing how poorly most 

companies deal with these [information security] issues," says Nick 

Akerman, a New York lawyer who specializes in trade-secret cases and 

reviewed court filings in the Pani case. The facts alleged in the 

indictment reveal "an overall lack of sophistication" in Intel's 

"ability to prevent this stuff from leaving their company.…For a company 

that's got this much valuable information, this is terrible."





"Mission-Critical Documents"



One of the most intriguing aspects of the case is that Pani was able to 

remain an Intel employee—with access to sensitive company data—for days 

after beginning a job at rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). According 

to court filings, Pani set June 11, 2008, to be his last day at Intel, 

but said he would be out of the office until that time, making use of 

accrued vacation time. In fact, Pani began working at AMD on June 2. Yet 

by also remaining on Intel's payroll, he maintained access to Intel's 

computer network. Using his Intel-issued laptop, Pani remotely 

downloaded 13 documents designated as "top secret," prosecutors allege. 

These "included mission-critical documents describing in detail the 

processes Intel uses for designing its newest generation of 

microprocessors," the indictment states.



[...]





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Received on Tue Nov 18 2008 - 23:13:23 PST