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Cisco VP To Memo Leaker: Finding You Now 'My Hobby'

Posted by timothy on from the like-a-bad-movie dept.

netbuzz writes "A Cisco vice president, who happens to have been a CIA operations officer in the 1980s, believes that the employee who recently leaked an internal company memo to a blogger committed corporate treason and violated a 'family' trust. In an email sent to Cisco employees, the executive invites the anonymous leaker to come clean, concedes that's unlikely, and adds, 'so I will now make (finding) you my hobby. Ask around (and) you will find out that I like to work on my hobbies.' That email got leaked and published as well. The tempest was sparked by a series of stories in Network World examining a host of bidding and contract questions involving the California higher education system."

35 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Jimmies Rustled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is why VPs are overpaid children

    1. Re:Jimmies Rustled by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So wait, the Internet Toughguy act isn't a cool grown-up thing to do?

      You'd think a CIA super-spy would have some neat tracking tricks in a guaranteed-to-be-leaked memo, but a visual inspection of the code shows nada, and as for hidden Unicode characters: nope. It'd be interesting to get multiple copies of the memo from different places to compare, but there's nothing suspicious I can see there.

      The thing about confidential information is, there's no such thing at all once you go beyond 10 people or so. More like 3-4 can, maybe, sometimes, keep a secret, but that's pushing it. 2 people knowing a thing is great, because if you didn't tell, you know who did, and 1 is the best of all. There's plenty of ways of getting the behavior you want out of people without being so vulgar as to actually tell them things. He's really got no one to blame but himself for both of the leaks. You think company loyalty exists these days? Hah! I'm sure you'd sell Cisco out in a heartbeat if you saw a profit in it, why do you think your employees, many of whom actually know what it's like to struggle, are any different? You'd think a black-ops specialist would know that, but, obviously, nope.

      And the real tricky thing about threats is, you absolutely, positively, must carry them through, or your future threats will mean (less than) nothing. In fact, if you don't already have the proverbial gun to someone's head (preferably without them knowing it's there), it's best not to make the threat at all, although that does take some self-control, which I understand can be a rare commodity in upper-management, and maybe best saved for more important occasions. Although a credible threat can be absolutely terrifying, silence from someone who has a reason to hate you is a lot scarier than hollow chest-thumping. You'd think such an intimidating beast would know that, 20 years after working for the CIA. Time will tell, but I'm guessing that once again the answer will be a big fat nope.

      Of course, I'm no 007, I learned all this playing a silly internet spaceships game and reading fantasy books. I imagine this spook knows what he's doing, and we're all dancing on the puppetmaster's strings.

      --
      <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
    2. Re:Jimmies Rustled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm amused at the CIA guy going on about "family trust" .. the CIA makes its living off people who break trust, every day. Sometimes literally the trust of family. Unless Cisco is unlike many other corporations, there's no real trust, family or other wise. If corporations want to be free to fire people, they should expect that employees will happily sell the company out if the right offer comes along. Its the flip side of the mercenary behavior corporations engage in. If they would rather have some employee loyalty, then they need to earn it. And repay the loyalty of employees with loyalty TO employees. Loyalty is expensive. Sometimes in cash money terms, but quite frequently in forgone options.

    3. Re:Jimmies Rustled by sumdumass · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think ex-cia makes Hanlon's razor improbable. They are masters at getting you to help them without you knowing it. Sometimes they let you know.

      During WWII, we did similar stunts to help identify and break the Japanese codes. We would send non-coded messages from base to base and have fighter squadrons on patrol talk about things at certain bases or islands on different days as they patrolled the area. The cross talk between planes would be picked up by the japs listening and then we would listen to their coded radio messages reporting this information to find words in common with what was said. After a few strategically altered messages, we had a good idea of code words for certain islands, positions, and other things that aided in breaking the codes as well as protecting implied targets when they communicated about them. Hanlon's razor would simply suggest our fly boys were loose with details ignorant of the enemy listening. But it was much more complicated then that.

    4. Re:Jimmies Rustled by MinistryOfTruthiness · · Score: 5, Funny

      One is too many. Zero is the optimal number.

      Managers in my company have this mastered. Nobody knows anything.

      --
      "I know that every word that man just said is true, because it's EXACTLY what I wanted to hear." -- Space Ghost
  2. Dead giveaway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The email is a dead giveaway that they dont have shit on the person who leaked it. If I were the person that leaked it, I would be rejoicing right now.

    1. Re:Dead giveaway by Midnight_Falcon · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The AC is right..he sent out this e-mail, and now is waiting for the potentially paranoid person to start making mistakes, acting nervous, or otherwise creating suspicion on themselves by trying to move suspicion away from themselves.

      He also sent out the email to discourage any other Cisco employees from potentially engaging in leaking as well. Or, to stop the current leaker from leaking by injecting paranoia.
      Had they any leads or information, this step would not have been necessary. The other employees would have been discouraged from leaking by the fact the leaker was busted, exposed, and their career ruined.

    2. Re:Dead giveaway by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Looks like someone is going to be on double secret probation.

    3. Re:Dead giveaway by Antipater · · Score: 5, Funny

      The email is a dead giveaway that they dont have shit on the person who leaked it. If I were the person that leaked it, I would be rejoicing right now.

      But you would have guessed that that would be my reaction - you would have counted on it! So I can CLEARLY not choose the wine in front of me!

      --
      Everything is better with chainsaws.
    4. Re:Dead giveaway by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Funny

      Little do you know that the Cisco VP has spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder.

    5. Re:Dead giveaway by dougmc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      1. Write software to do steps #1 and #2 automatically
      2. Sell said software.
      3. Profit!

      I actually suggested this to my employer a decade ago when they had a similar problem with a leaked memo, and they said "thanks" but never followed up on it. I haven't gone looking, but I'll bet there's software out there that does it already.

    6. Re:Dead giveaway by bmo · · Score: 4, Funny

      >Or just ask a bunch of random coworkers to forward it to you

      No no, you're not thinking devious enough. Don't ask a random employee.

      Ask the coworker you like the least. Leak that one.

      Deny everything.

      Taa daa.

      --
      BMO

    7. Re:Dead giveaway by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cisco has unwisely been fighting a land war in Asia too.

      That's LAN war....

    8. Re:Dead giveaway by SmlFreshwaterBuffalo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hello. My name is Mike Quinn. You leaked my memo. Prepare to die.

  3. Not impressed. by Animats · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If this guy had really been a good CIA ops officer, he would have said nothing until he knew who the leaker was.

    1. Re:Not impressed. by kenorland · · Score: 5, Funny

      If he had been a good CIA ops, perhaps he'd still be working for the CIA.

  4. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd think his hobby would be more along the lines of "eating cake among other things."

    1. Re:Really? by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, no. That looks like his full time job.

  5. How about by geekoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cisco firing and downsizing whenever they see fit? how does that fit into your dumbass view of:

    "committed corporate treason and violated a 'family' trust. "?

    Also, look up treason.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:How about by s73v3r · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed. Anyone who tries to say that a company is like a "family" is an asshat trying to get free labor out of his subordinates.

    2. Re:How about by russotto · · Score: 4, Funny

      Agreed. Anyone who tries to say that a company is like a "family" is an asshat trying to get free labor out of his subordinates.

      I don't think that's the kind of "family" he means. More like the sleeps-with-the-fishes kind of "family".

  6. Cisco needs to keep their VPs on shorter leashes by WaffleMonster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kind of creepy to hear of "ex" CIA officers in top Cisco positions... advertising this must do wonders for foreign (and domestic) sales...

    And ah... continually beating wardrums about an issue which only *reminds* customers of cost issues with Cisco products and services is no winning proposition for Cisco either.

  7. Fat Boy has James Bond Wet Dream by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Funny

    Film at 11.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  8. A very particular set of skills... by TimHunter · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

  9. Really a company-wide email? by mattbee · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...or did he send a very slightly differently punctuated/spaced email to every employee, just to see which version ended up leaked? I'm pretty sure that's what Bruce Schneier would do.

    --
    Matthew @ Bytemark Hosting
  10. Who does this asshole think he is? by erp_consultant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Typical corporate jackass. Trying to throw around his (considerable) weight with veiled threats. Yeah, donut boy, I'm sure the memo leaker is just quivering in his boots right about now. If you were a Cisco employee what would you be thinking right about now? I know what I'd be thinking. I'd be thinking I'm not going to work for an idiot like that. Maybe donut boy still thinks he's in the CIA. Maybe he gets off on stupid little power trips. Maybe his wife treats him like shit and the only way he can get back is to take it out on the people he works with. Maybe he's just a fucking loser.

  11. Loyalty is not a one-way street by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And perhaps some day companies will learn that. http://www.inquisitr.com/283632/cisco-firing-1300-employees-2-of-global-workforce/

  12. Re:Violation of Contract vs. Free Speech by Nadaka · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you were to expose criminal activity, either negligence or malicious you SHOULD expect protection.

    Its called being a wistleblower, and its very important.

  13. Re:Assuming said leaker no longer works for Cisco. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Given that wacky incident where Cisco instigated the arrest (in Canada) of a former executive who had the temerity to testify against them in an antitrust case, I'd bet that they have some nontrivial pull, and certainly don't seem to be afraid of using it.

  14. The French lesson by dbIII · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the torturers come home, feeling bigger than God after torturing Priests, Doctors and other authority figures, they may decide they are the correct people to run the place and put their other military or paramilitary skills to use to remove whoever they see as in their way. The French had that problem with people from their equivalent of the CIA that came back from Algeria and it culminated with an assassination attempt on the French President.
    That is of course the extreme, but the "bigger than God" attitude can come through to a lesser extent to even those remote from extreme extralegal actions, which is why we get this idiot at Cisco pretending to be a gangster.

  15. Re:American executives vs Europeans by Jaysyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Europe puts their sociopaths in hospitals. The USA puts them in boardrooms..

    --
    There is a war going on for your mind.
  16. Re:that constitutes harassment and threatening beh by 54mc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I want to preface by saying that I absolutely agree that this is harassment and threatening behaviour.

    However, I can say with certaintly that HR does not care one single bit. HR really couldn't care either way on most issues. They do their job. That job is to protect the company and its higher ups.

    If a low level employee sent this, then yes, absolutely, they'd be terminated.

    Now, when a low level employee brings these concerns to HR, they'll be informed that it is not in fact threatening, but rather a reminder of company policies regardling leaks and an assurance from the VP that he personally takes those policies very seriously. Then she'll offer some candy from the bowl on her desk and ask you if you've remembered to signup for this weekend's company picnic.

    --
    Joy! Beautiful spark of the gods!
  17. Re:Better hobbies. by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Funny

    Based on his picture eating is a big hobby for him, and he takes it very seriously.

  18. Re:Better hobbies. by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "But what I do have is a very particular set of silverware; silverware I have acquired over a very long meal. Silverware that makes me drool over people like you. If you tell me who you are now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will eat you."

  19. Re:Assuming said leaker no longer works for Cisco. by sir-gold · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So you have a secret blacklist, that is never verified, and never open for appeal? is that even legal?

    As far as not hiring people who have been arrested, do you have any idea how easy it it to be arrested? one of my friends was put in handcuffs and thrown the the back of a police car, for nothing more serious than crossing the street when it said "don't walk"

    If I knew your name and address, I could have you arrested right this minute. The arrest wouldn't stick, and I would be charged with filing a false report (if they caught me) but it would still show up as arrest for your on that precious blacklist, and you would be out of a job.