Phillips & Cohen partner Claire Sylvia contextualizes the Cisco whistleblower settlement and provides an overview of how the False Claims Act can be used to expose fraud in the cybersecurity industry in her op-ed for Infosecurity Magazine:
The Cisco case is the first time a whistleblower in the cybersecurity industry has had success with the False Claims Act. However, the security industry can expect to see many more False Claims Act cases in the future given the vast amounts of money government agencies are spending on cybersecurity.
What was truly important about the case was that it shows how effective a whistleblower law known as the False Claims Act can be as a way to bring to the government’s attention issues with the security products and services it purchases.
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In the Cisco case, the whistleblower, James Glenn, was a cybersecurity consultant with a Cisco partner in Denmark. He discovered what he believed to be serious vulnerabilities with Cisco’s internet protocol video surveillance product, known as the “Video Surveillance Manager” (VSM), and was concerned that the security of any computer or system connected to the product also was compromised.
He believed that a person with just a moderate knowledge of software and network security could hack into the system and gain access to all video feeds, user passwords and stored data and gain permanent administrator access.
Read the entire article , “Why the Security Industry Should Pat Attention to the Cisco Whistleblower Case,” on Infosecurity Magazine’s website.