Intel Employee Accused of Corporate Espionage

A former Intel employee has been accused of stealing data and providing it to his new employer AMD. The accused Biswahoman Pani  said he would leave the company on June 11, and would be on vacation until that date. However, he began working for AMD on June 2nd which was eight days before his employment at Intel ended. Pani still had access to his Intel laptop and the company’s computer network. Pani used this access to collect sensitive documents that might have provided valuable competitive intelligence for his new employer.

Pani apparently copied a severl confidential Intel documents, including 13 extermely confidential company files containing highly sensitive design plans for future processor chips.

For situations such as this HR should have been more proactive regarding the resignation and should have asked for his laptop immediatly, regardless of the fact that he may be still employed with the company. There is software such as GadgetTrak that also would have enabled the IT department to remotely wipe all data from an employees laptop, as well as track its location. It would have been interesting to see if the device phoned in from the AMD offices.