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Cisco whistleblower gets first False Claims payout over cybersecurity
Source: Reuters
BUSINESS NEWS JULY 31, 2019 / 6:43 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Cisco whistleblower gets first False Claims payout over cybersecurity
Joseph Menn
4 MIN READ
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) Inc has agreed to settle a whistleblower’s claim that it improperly sold video surveillance software with known vulnerabilities to U.S. federal and state governments, marking the first payout on a False Claims Act case brought over failure to meet cybersecurity standards.
The settlement and underlying claim were unsealed on Wednesday, eight years after the initial legal complaint. Cisco paid $8.6 million to resolve the case, with most of that going to the federal government and 15 state buyers and more than $1 million going to the whistleblower, James Glenn.
-snip-
Cisco’s Video Surveillance Manager was used by Los Angeles International Airport, the Washington D.C. police and the New York City public transit system, as well as many schools, said Hartman.
The complaint unsealed Wednesday also names as customers the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
Glenn was working at a Cisco partner in Denmark called NetDesign, the complaint says, among other things working with Danish police. In 2008, he warned Cisco that a hacker who got into one camera that was part of the system could use flaws in the software to get administrative control of the entire network. The suit says a hacker could then potentially move beyond the video system.
-snip-
Cisco whistleblower gets first False Claims payout over cybersecurity
Joseph Menn
4 MIN READ
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems (CSCO.O) Inc has agreed to settle a whistleblower’s claim that it improperly sold video surveillance software with known vulnerabilities to U.S. federal and state governments, marking the first payout on a False Claims Act case brought over failure to meet cybersecurity standards.
The settlement and underlying claim were unsealed on Wednesday, eight years after the initial legal complaint. Cisco paid $8.6 million to resolve the case, with most of that going to the federal government and 15 state buyers and more than $1 million going to the whistleblower, James Glenn.
-snip-
Cisco’s Video Surveillance Manager was used by Los Angeles International Airport, the Washington D.C. police and the New York City public transit system, as well as many schools, said Hartman.
The complaint unsealed Wednesday also names as customers the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
Glenn was working at a Cisco partner in Denmark called NetDesign, the complaint says, among other things working with Danish police. In 2008, he warned Cisco that a hacker who got into one camera that was part of the system could use flaws in the software to get administrative control of the entire network. The suit says a hacker could then potentially move beyond the video system.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cisco-systems-claim/cisco-whistleblower-gets-first-false-claims-payout-over-cybersecurity-idUSKCN1UQ2W2