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Not that it’s acceptable, but losing a few minor office supplies whenever an employee is packing his or her desk is something most businesses likely expect.
Ex-Intel employee charged with stealing confidential documents ahead of joining AMD. Image: b_d_solis/Flickr.
However, it would appear that a former employee at the Hudson-based facility of Intel Corp. helped himself to considerably more than that ahead of a new position with rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Indeed, while the fortuitous liberation of a few paper clips might go unpunished, leading microchip manufacturer Intel has this week charged light-fingered ex-employee Biswahoman Pani with stealing 13 confidential company files pertaining to sensitive and hugely valuable plans for upcoming Intel processing technology.
According to a criminal complaint filed in August at the U.S. District Court of Boston, Pani copied and removed more than 100 pages of important Intel documentation and also 19 computer-aided-design drawings, all of which were uncovered during a search of his property in July of this year.
Relaying his findings through the complaint’s related affidavit, Special Agent Timothy Russell of the FBI’s computer crime squad in Boston revealed that Pani handed in his resignation at Intel on May 29 with a view to leaving the company on June 11 and taking a vacation until that date.
However, Pani subsequently undertook a new position with rival chipmaker AMD on June 02 and was still in possession of both his Intel laptop and access to the company’s network.
Russell claims Pani abused this access to amass confidential Intel documentation that might provide his new employers with intelligence relating to the ongoing evolution and future hardware plans of their main market rival.
The apparent pilfering of sensitive information was exposed after a fellow Intel employee discovered Pani had another job with AMD, at which point a system check was performed on his computer to ascertain whether he had sought access to secret Intel documents.
Of the three parties central to the complaint, Pani, who insists he is innocennt and intends to fight the charges, has been ordered to surrender his passport during the investigation, while both Intel and AMD are believed to be cooperating fully with the Department of Justice and FBI.
In explaining away his actions during an FBI interview given on July 23, the Boston Globe reports that Pani admitted obtaininb copies of the Intel files, but had only done so to assist in the professional acclimatisation of his wife, who was due to start work at Intel’s Hudson plant.
According to Special Agent Russell, there is no evidence to suggest AMD had any knowledge as to Pani’s actions or that it ever took receipt of Intel’s files.
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