Infrastructure firms have swords drawn

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1033-939687.html?tag=fd_top

By John Borland 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 26, 2002, 3:40 PM PT

Forget about making Web sites faster. The big Net infrastructure
issues of the day are allegations of industrial espionage, hacking and
libel.

Boston-based Akamai Technologies sued rival Speedera Networks on
Tuesday, accusing Speedera's chief technology officer of breaking into
a partner's database and stealing proprietary Akamai information.

The lawsuit came several days after the FBI visited Speedera's Santa
Clara, Calif., offices, acting on a sealed affidavit that Speedera
said was filed by Akamai.

Speedera is denying everything, saying Akamai is simply trying to
tarnish its good name. That company filed its own lawsuit against
Akamai on Tuesday for unfair competition, false advertising and trade
libel.

"They've misrepresented everything about us that they possibly could,"  
said Gordon Smith, vice president of marketing at Speedera. The
accusations of hacking and data theft are "grossly inaccurate," he
added.

The two companies are leaders in the increasingly competitive business
of speeding customers' Web sites. Akamai broke the "content delivery"  
business into the mainstream in 1999, after proving to Yahoo it could
substantially decrease the site's download times using the start-up's
network technology. Speedera, along with many other companies,
followed not long afterward.

But as the Internet bubble collapsed and the pool of potential
customers shrank, the rivalry between these companies became more
bitter. Akamai filed a patent infringement suit against Speedera last
February, and Speedera said this week's events stem from that dispute.  
Speedera was granted a broad patent on its technology on Tuesday.

The claim filed by Akamai in state Superior Court in San Francisco on
Tuesday contains detailed allegations of willful data theft by
Speedera Chief Technology Officer Richard Day.

According to the complaint, Day somehow gained access to private
databases operated by Keynote Systems, a company that measures the
speed and health of Web sites and the Internet. Keynote had been hired
by Akamai to verify and quantify its Net-speeding claims.

Akamai alleged that Day repeatedly used a digital subscriber line in a
Mountain View, Calif., apartment to tap into Keynote's private
database and download information about Akamai tests and customers.  
According to the complaint, Day began the practice in late February
and tapped into Keynote's systems using Akamai's security codes at
least 33 times.

The complaint gave no indication how Akamai had obtained such specific
information. Akamai declined to comment on this point.

"We're appalled that by stealing our data, as our suit alleges,
Speedera tried to create a business, not by making an investment in
its own company, but by misappropriating the hard work and significant
investment Akamai has made," Akamai President Paul Sagan said in a
statement. "We intend to use every resource at our disposal to address
this wrongful conduct and to protect Akamai's business and customer
relationships."

A Keynote spokesman also declined to comment on the lawsuits or
allegations, saying only that the company was cooperating with
authorities.

Smith said the FBI had visited Speedera's offices Monday morning.  
Agents had been acting on a sealed affidavit, which they said had been
filed by Akamai, and gave no indication of its contents, Smith said.

In a court hearing on the issue Wednesday, a judge granted Akamai its
request for an expedited discovery process and set a new court date
for July 24. Akamai is seeking to block Speedera from acting on any
customer or proprietary marketing information that it might have
obtained as a result of Day's alleged activities.

 

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