Panel adds 5 investigators to HP data hearing
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A U.S. House of Representatives   panel on Wednesday extended its probe into Hewlett-Packard   Co.'s use of private telephone records by subpoenaing five   private investigators to testify at a Thursday hearing.
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(110 sec.) An update on the major players in the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal.
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A House of Representatives panel on   Wednesday extended its probe into Hewlett-Packard Co.'s use of   private telephone records by subpoenaing five private   investigators to testify at a Thursday hearing.
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(InfoWorld) - An attorney hired by Hewlett-Packard to investigate the conduct of HP and outside investigators has provided new details of his firm's investigation ofÂ news leaks from the HP board. Mike Holston, a partner in Morgan, Lewis & Bockius was hired Sept. 8 to conduct an independent investigation of the scandal and reports directly to HP Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd. Morgan Lewis has reviewed some of the approximately 1 million pages of documents it received from HP and outside investigators hired by HP to trace the news leaks. It determined that HP Board Chairman Patricia Dunn authorized two separate investigations: one to probe leaks in 2005 and a second in 2006. The Morgan Lewis probe found that HP hired in 2005 Security Outsourcing Services (SOS), of Needham, Massachusetts, a private security firm, to probe the first series of leaks. This is the first official confirmation that HP hired that firm, even though it had been identified in several recent news stories. Two months into SOS's probe, HP's Global Security division also joined the investigation. The investigation concluded in July 2005 without being able to identify the source of those leaks. When CNet NetworksÂ reported Jan 23, 2006, on the details of a private board meeting, HP launched a second investigation with the help of SOS and HP Global Security. Dunn, Hurd, HP's General Counsel Ann Baskins, and Jim Fairbaugh, chief of Global Security, approved the second investigation. Dunn and Baskins were kept up to date on the course of the investigation over the next three months, Holston said. "It is now clear that the investigation included tactics that ranged from the review of HPâs internal e-mails and instant messages, to the physical surveillance of an HP Board member and at least one journalist, to the "pretexting" of telephone call information of board members, HP employees, and journalists," he said, adding that SOS's legal counsel informed HP that SOS's investigative techniques were legal. The investigators presented a draft report to HP in March 2006 identifying the source of the board leaks and detailing some of their investigative methods, including pretexting, which is obtaining access to private phone records under false pretenses. HP sent a copy of the report to its outside legal counsel and the report was disclosed at a May 18 board meeting. In a separate HP filing Sept. 6 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company disclosed that director George Keyworth was the source. While he acknowledged his role, Keyworth refused to resign at that May board meeting. HeÂ eventually resignedÂ Sept. 12. Holston went on to say that Tony Gentilucci, another member of HP's Global Security division and a member of the investigative team, turned over the Social Security number of an HP employee to SOS. SOS then turned that and other Social Security numbers over to Action Research Group, another private investigative firm, which used the numbers to help gain unauthorized access to private phone records. This is also the first acknowledgement that Action Research, of Melbourne, Florida, was involved, although it had been identified in news reports. Disclosing personal employee information is a violation of HP policy, and could result in Mr. Gentilucci's dismissal, said a source inside the company who declined to be identified. Holston also disclosed that investigators attempted to send an e-mail to a CNet reporter from a fictitious disgruntled HP employee that contained a hidden attachment, called a "tracer," that would track who the reporter contacted about the tip so as to identify her sources. HP did not disclose the identity of the reporter Friday, but she was identified in a Sept. 21 Washington Post article as Dawn Kawamoto. But Holston said it could not be determined whether the tracer was ever activated. Hurd acknowledged in his remarks that heÂ approved the fake e-mail schemeÂ but said he did not know it involved use of the tracer. And although another scheme to send spies into the San Francisco offices of CNet and The Wall Street Journal posing as clerical or janitorial workers was considered, there was no indication it was ever carried out, Holston said.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has submitted thousands of documents to a House subcommittee looking into how the company tracked down boardroom leaks.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard board members and journalists were under physical surveillance by investigators trying to find out who was providing information to reporters, and private investigators tried to put tracking software on a journalist's computer to keep tabs on e-mail, according to a New York Times report. Patricia Dunn, HP's chairman, the company's general counsel and a staff attorney oversaw the internalÂ investigation of news leaks, the Times reported, citing anonymous sources who have been briefed on HP's findings so far regarding the secret investigation. It isn't clear how much involvement in the investigation there was by Dunn and others at HP, the Times reported Monday. HP announced last week that Dunn willÂ step aside as chairmanÂ in January, although she will remain as a director. Two others also have resigned from the board in the wake of the scandal. Over the weekend, HP identified Michael Moeller, director of corporate media relations, as one of two HP employees who was targeted in the internal investigation. "Investigators' suspicions were misdirected and unfounded," Robert Sherbin, HP's vice president for external communications was quoted as telling the Times on Sunday. The internal investigation reportedly was conducted in two stages, with the first from January 2005 to August of that year, which came up with nothing to go on, and then a second phase beginning in January 2006 after the technology news site of CNET NetworksÂ posted an article about an HP senior management meeting held that month. The board first clamored for an investigation into leaks of information to journalists in January 2005 following an article in The Wall Street Journal that spoke of board discussions regarding management reorganization and changes in the responsibilities to be handled by Carly Fiorina, who was then chief executive officer and chairman. She was ousted by the board in February 2005. Within days of that board action, The New York Times published a detailed account of a directors' meeting that was crucial to her ouster. Reporters from the Times, the Journal, CNET and Business Week have been informed by the California attorney general's office that HP investigated them. California and federal authorities are investigating HP's conduct and the California attorney general has said that charges are likely. HP has admitted that its the private investigative firm it hired used "pretexting," with investigators pretending to be journalists in order to obtain their personal telephone records. Even after a summary of the internal investigation was presented to leaders at HP, in Palo Alto, California, those in charge were unaware that possibly illegal methods had been used to obtain information, the Times reported. In May, the investigation's findings were relayed to the board of directors, including the allegation that its longest-running member, George Keyworth, was the source of the leaks to journalists. He refused to resign, but Vice Chairman Thomas Perkins, an influential and important Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was incensed over the probe and quit the board. He then turned his attention to pressuring Dunn to resign. His surprising departure was announced in a mildly worded HP statement that offered no clue as to the fractious nature of what had transpired, details of which began to emerge in news accounts earlier this month.
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Reporters followed, say leaks Officials at Hewlett-Packard have been asked to testify to the House of Representatives which is investigating the company's media leak investigations. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and General Counsel Ann Baskins have been asked to testify.â¦
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Hewlett-Packard Co. obtained the telephone records of nine reporters as part of its internal probe of information leaks, the company confirmed Thursday.
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There was a question mark hanging over Hewlett-Packard Co chair Patricia Dunn after revelations that an investigation she launched violated the privacy of her fellow HP directors, several journalists and their families, and probably broke the law.
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Hewlett-Packard Chairman Patricia Dunn will answer questions on the spying scandal that has embroiled her company during a House committee hearing on Capitol Hill next week.
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The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday expanded its probe into the Hewlett-Packard press leak scandal by asking several people involved to testify at a hearing on the matter scheduled for September 28.
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A U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee probing theÂ Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) pretexting case has issued more subpoenas to compel witness testimony at a Thursday hearing.
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Two Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ.N   officials were subpoenaed to testify at a House Energy and   Commerce subcommittee hearing Thursday on the company's probe   into boardroom leaks, a source familiar with the investigation   said on Monday.
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard appointed as its new general counsel the lawyer it hired last year to conduct an independent investigation into the spying scandal at the company. Mike Holston, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, will take on the new position starting Feb. 22. He succeeds Ann Baskins, whoÂ resigned in September. HP has been embroiled in a scandalÂ regarding the tactics it used to investigate an internal information leak. The company is being investigated for approving illegal methods used to obtain information about journalists and employees. Holston revealed the results of his investigations into HP's probe at a press conference in September. He named HP executives who approved or were present at meetings that detailed the tactics company officials and third parties were using to investigate the information leak. He also disclosed plans at HP to use false information to lure reporters into identifying the leak. Holston said Mark Hurd, chairman and CEO of HP, approved that plan. Holston, who has served as external counsel at HP for over ten years, will report directly to Hurd in his new role. Holston replaces Baskins, who was subpoenaed for her role in the internal probe but refused to answer questions in front of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee investigating the matter. Last month, the first conviction in the case was made when aÂ private investigator pleaded guiltyÂ to fraudulently obtaining information about reporters and HP workers on HP's behalf. Others, including former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn and former HP legal counsel Kevin Hunsaker,Â still face charges. Â
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Top executives of Verizon  Communications, Sprint Nextel Corp., Cingular and T-Mobile USA  have been invited to testify Friday at a U.S. House Energy and  Commerce Committee hearing into the use of deceptive measures  to obtain personal information, known as pretexting, the panel  said on Monday.
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The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee looking into theÂ Hewlett-Packard Co. boardroom spying scandalÂ has added a second day of hearings and issued subpoenas for some witnesses.
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Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President Mark Hurd confirmed on Friday that he approved a probe of HP employees, board members and journalists in an effort to find out who on the HP board was leaking confidential information outside of the company.