Exclusive: HP's printer team in espionage drama

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.com/content/51/30914.html

By Ashlee Vance in San Francisco
Posted: 28/05/2003 

Hewlett-Packard's top secret printer labs are under attack from an 
audacious rival using the art of deception to gather confidential 
information. 

A group of engineers working on HP's next-generation network laser 
printer have come under siege from a competitor, The Register has 
learned. Employees have received calls at work and at home from faux 
members of the HP team, asking for details on a new 9500 series 
printer code-named Nozomi. HP has fingered the culprit, we are told, 
although the company's identity cannot be released at this time. 

The calls started to come into HP's Boise, Idaho labs close to one 
month ago. The spies would pretend to be supervisors from another part 
of HP. They would grill engineers about ink cartridges and Nozomi's 
design. Some workers were also called at home with the spy pretending 
to take a survey about technology and, yes, ink cartridges. 

"They know the projects people are working on and where they live," a 
source said. "They pretend to be someone from another office and ask 
various questions. They're very smooth in their delivery." 

An HP spokeswoman declined to comment for this story. 

HP suspects that a competitor has backed the espionage campaign with 
close to $1 million in funding. An HP executive flew to Boise to 
instruct employees on what to do when the enemy (or the press) calls. 
Placards with directions have been placed throughout the well-guarded 
labs. 

HP has a number of fierce competitors in the printer space, including 
Lexmark, Canon, Epson. and new rival Dell. 

Corporate espionage is a somewhat common practice in the IT industry. 
Oracle admitted to keeping an eye on Microsoft by hiring a lobby 
group, IGI, to buy garbage from pro-Microsoft lobbyists. 

One of HP's competitors appears to have taken a similar course. HP 
dominates the printer market and makes a killing in the process, so it 
stands to reason that rivals want to be in the know. In its last 
quarter, HP's printing and imaging business generated $918 million in 
profits. 



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