Reuters Technology
HP 'Terminates' One Leak Source, Hunts for Second
By Peter Henderson
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news) has fired an employee who leaked documents and is on the trail of the culprit who intercepted a controversial voicemail from Chief Executive Carly Fiorina about the Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) merger, the company said on Thursday.
The Silicon Valley stalwart HP has faced strong dissent within the ranks to management's $19 billion plan to buy Compaq, which sparked a nasty proxy battle as well as some leaks of confidential information and is now being fought in court.
A number of HP employees attended a March 19 shareholder vote in a last-minute campaign against the deal, which would eliminate about 10 percent of the work force of the combined technology company.
Fiorina told HP Chief Financial Officer Bob Wayman in a voicemail a few days before the shareholder meeting that they ``may have to do something extraordinary'' to convince two major shareholders to vote for merger. Federal prosecutors have since opened a criminal investigation into the vote.
HP has adamantly denied any wrongdoing in the vote and launched an investigation into how the voicemail was leaked, concluding that the intruder had intercepted the voicemail without breaking or hacking into HP's computer system.
``We have concluded the voicemail was not obtained or forwarded from within the HP voicemail infrastructure,'' Fiorina explained. ``The message was intercepted from Bob Wayman's home or cell phone, or through unauthorized access to and use of Bob's voicemail password,'' she wrote.
Spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy said HP had hired an outside investigator to help its technology team track down the leak, which was first reported in the San Jose Mercury News.
Information security expert Kevin Mitnick, who is writing a book on voicemail security, said the intruder had probably guessed or seen Wayman's password, the easiest form of voicemail access.
Intruders also trick administrators into giving out or changing the passwords or used a maintenance technical ``back door'' that allows administrators access to some phone systems.
``To track the call would be extremely difficult,'' unless the intruder used a phone linked to himself or herself to check Wayman's voicemail, he said.
HP must defend its conduct on vote solicitation in court next week, but the company said that a preliminary vote count showed HP had won approval for the merger, which could close by early May.
Fiorina also said that an employee had admitted leaking two memos. ``The employee has been terminated from the company,'' she said, urging HP workers to be vigilant and protect their passwords.
``I find all of this reprehensible, as I know you do,'' she concluded. |
