Detective Agency is Target in HP 'Spy' Probe
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INVESTIGATORS plan to probe a private detective agency linked with Hewlett-Packard as the spying scandal deepens at the computer giant.
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Revelations that HP supervised an extensive investigation of some of its directors, journalists and a few employees have blemished its reputation. The New York Times
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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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Hewlett-Packard says it discussed allegations that employees spied on rival, but Dell wants more thorough investigation.
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By Ross Kerber and Sacha Pfeiffer, The Boston Globe  Sep. 14--California officials investigating the corporate spying issues  at Hewlett-Packard Co.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- The probe into who knew what, and when, about spying at Hewlett-Packard Co. threatened to reach into the chief executive's office yesterday, rattling investors, who feared the world's largest technology company was sailing into a perfect storm.
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Hewlett-PackardÂs use of a Boston-based group to investigate suspected news leaks provides an intriguing geographic link for prosecutors.
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The Hewlett-Packard Co. spying effort that has sparked criminal investigations was wide-ranging and included physical surveillance, photographs and spyware sent via e-mail, and it also targeted wives and other relatives of HP board members and reporters, according to a consultant's report prepared...
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Hewlett-Packard Co.  said  on Monday it has been contacted by U.S. federal prosecutors  seeking information about the company's investigation into  boardroom leaks to the press.
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A British intelligence agency is seeking spies in cyberspace.
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NEW YORK -- Investigators for Hewlett-Packard Co. sought private telephone records of board members while hunting for leaks to the media of confidential company information, the computer maker said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
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Â· Police search for evidence of leaks to US authors  Â· Book claims CIA and MI6 failed to halt smuggling
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A British customs agent who investigated the nuclear smuggling network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has himself become the target of a British criminal probe after being prominently featured in a book by American researchers.
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Investigators for Hewlett-Packard Co. sought private telephone records of board members while hunting for leaks to the media of confidential company information, the computer maker said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
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Hewlett-Packard, the largest maker of personal computers and printers, agreed Thursday to settle an investigation by the California attorney general over its spying tactics, according to a person briefed on the agreement, who asked for anonymity because the details had yet to be made public.
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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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By Ross Kerber, The Boston Globe  Sep. 16--Needham private investigator Ronald R. DeLia yesterday was asked  to testify in Washington this month by congressional officials looking for  explanations in the corporate-spying affair at Hewlett-Packard Co.