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It appears to be over… NOT

Per Forbes, based on an AP wire story, and confirmed now by our friends in the thick of it, Mike, Black Hat, Cisco and ISS have reached a settlement. We haven’t got any details and may well never get any, as the conditions of settlements aren’t always made public. Suffice it to say that the contents of the presentation are barred, and Mike can’t ever talk about them again. Furthermore, he’ll have to return any Cisco source code he may have. Black Hat agreed to sequester the video of the talk as well, apparently, which is understandable, though disappointing to me, personally, since I’d have liked to see it.

Of course we’ll keep posting further developments, if there are any, but at the moment, things look like they’ve settled without bloodshed, though I doubt there’s much love lost between them.

On a personal note, we (Mike’s friends) have gotten more than one or two calls or emails offering support, both moral and financial, for Mike, based on the potential for a long legal battle. I’ve been extremely careful not to speak for Mike in any way thus far, and will continue to do so on actual details, but I’m sure he’ll have no objection to my expressing gratitude to all of you who stood in his corner.

Mainpage Update, Friday 12:26 PM
Looks like we may’ve been premature. We had some unpleasant rumors filter back last night, and this Wired story appears to confirm them. I don’t think anyone here in Atlanta has talked directly to Mike in some time, so we’re getting everything third hand or via the news, just like everyone else. Here’s hoping Ms. Granick is correct, and the investigation will wind down shortly… whatever else he is, I don’t think Mike’s a crook.

Mainpage Update, Friday 5:02 PM
Yeah, we were premature. I’m aware that a legal defense fund is being set up, but in the meantime, Mike’s paypal account can be used to send your support.

Published at Thursday, July 28th, 2005 @ 7:47 pm Category IP, Law, Technology
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3 Responses to “It appears to be over… NOT”

  1. k Says:
    July 28th, 2005 at 7:49 pm

    The Forbes article, I didn’t link above.

    See also Network World which has more details.

    The following quote from the Network World article seems particularly relevant in the context of the settlement :

    “Security researchers won’t want to make stuff public if Cisco is just going to come back at them with legal action,” Marc Maiffret, co-founder and chief hacking officer of eEye Digital Security, a vulnerability research and security vendor. “Why should someone report something to Cisco if the company is going to act this way?” he says. “Who would want to work with a company that’s going to do stuff like this?”

    Indeed.

    (p.s. “Chief Hacking Officer”? Now *that’s* a title…

  2. Bigd Says:
    July 29th, 2005 at 12:28 pm

    Anybody know where you can download this preso?

    It looks like it was yanked from from the blackhat site before I got a chance to see it.

  3. Geo Says:
    July 29th, 2005 at 4:41 pm

    I found this blog through the WAPO blog. It’s funny that everyone thinks that Mike is some big hero. He torpedoed an effort a disclosure effort that was already in progress just because he wanted to do it on a big stage in front of every reporter in the industry. Let’s not kid ourselves. Mike played this perfectly to get what he wanted. He wanted to embarrass Cisco and build up his name while hopefully staying out of jail. Let’s see what happens.

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