Your computer probably reads “Intel Pentium Processor” somewhere on its face…
Nearly every computer made today is equipped with an Intel Pentium Processor, or another various Intel micro chip product. Surely, even looking at your screen now, there is evidence that Intel’s microchips are providing you faster, more efficient computer service.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), another company many readers know of, is of course runner up to Intel with its processor chips. It seems former Intel employee Biswahoman Pani wanted to make that leap a little more accessible. After resigning from Intel, and while in business negotiations to work for AMD, Pani accessed information from his still-active Intel laptop, and copied a slew of Intel documents, including 13 top-secret company files containing design plans for future processing chips.
As reported in the Boston Globe this past Friday, an affidavit was issued by the Boston computer crime squad stating that more than 100 pages of sensitive documents as well as 19 designs were found in a search of Pani’s house. Pani and his attorney, R. Bradford Bailey, maintain that Pani had merely copied the documents to aid his wife, also an Intel employee, in a transition from one Intel plant to the next.
Spokeswoman for Intel, Claudine Mangano, stated, “Intellectual property is a critical asset for Intel.” Pani’s jeopardizing of the files breaches Intel security guidelines, and may potentially fall into the hands of the competitor AMD.
FBI Special Agent Timothy Russell stated that though there is no evidence AMD ever received the confidential files, and there remains no evidence that AMD knew of Pani’s actions or encouraged them, the Bureau continues to explore the possibilities of this sensitive information being placed in the wrong hands.
Though Intel will likely screen employees more rigorously from now on, the fact remains that had proper security procedures been followed, the Intel documents and designs would never have been susceptible to copying, theft, or pawning to another company.
Tags: AMD, Boston Globe, Computer processor, FBI, Intel, Laptop Computer Security, laptop theft, mobile computer security
