Whistleblower vindicated in Cisco cybersecurity case

A computer security expert who has won a trailblazing payout in a whistleblower lawsuit over critical security flaws he found in October 2008 in Cisco Systems Inc. video surveillance software thought his discovery would be a career-boosting milestone.

James Glenn imagined at the time that Cisco would credit him on its website. The software was, after all, used at major U.S. international airports and multiple federal agencies with sensitive missions

"I mean, this was a pretty decent accomplishment," Glenn said last week in a phone interview.

Instead, he was fired by the Cisco reseller in Denmark that employed him, which cited cost-cutting needs. And Cisco kept the flaws in its Video Surveillance Manager system quiet for five years.

Only last Wednesday, when an $8.6 million settlement was announced and the lawsuit he filed in 2011 under the federal False Claims Act unsealed, was Glenn's ordeal revealed — along with the potential peril posed by Cisco's long silence. read more »

Opioid Patient Worth $200,000 a Year to Purdue, State Says

Massachusetts took Purdue Pharma LP to task in a Boston courtroom Friday, blaming the opioid maker and the billionaire Sackler family that owns it for causing “thousands of people to suffer and many to die.”

The state has proof Purdue targeted doctors to prescribe large volumes of high-dose pills to their patients, Assistant Attorney General Sydenham Alexander III told the court.

“Purdue specialized in the most dangerous prescriptions because they were the most profitable,” Alexander said, adding that one Massachusetts patient alone was worth $200,000 a year to Purdue. “We’ve traced so far more than 600 Purdue patients who died of overdoses.” read more »

346 People Have Died on Boeing’s Newest Jet. Why the Hell Does the CEO Still Have a Job?

From the beginning of the 737-MAX catastrophe, Dennis Muilenburg has stuck to the same script: Blame the pilots, minimize the problem. That was indefensible from the start.

The most damaging crisis to hit Boeing in its more than 100-year history really began nearly a year ago, on August 13, 2018, when Indonesia’s Lion Air took delivery of a new Boeing 737-MAX. read more »