Also: IBM makes management changes; Expert: U.S. not set for ‘Net attack; Cisco’s Linksys acquires firm; Dauber takes Nevis helm
Visa and American Express last week said they’ve terminated their contracts with Atlanta-based processor CardSystems Solutions, with Visa specifically citing CardSystems’ lack of appropriate controls in place to protect cardholder information. The decision by Visa and American Express follows the disclosure last month that vulnerabilities in CardSystems’ network allowed an outsider to gain access to as many as 40 million credit card numbers. MasterCard International, however, said it would continue to work with CardSystems because of what it perceives as improvements in the company’s security.
IBM last week announced a major shift in its executive ranks. John Joyce, senior vice president for IBM’s services business, is leaving to join Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm. His duties now will be split. Virginia Rometty will be senior vice president in charge of high-end consulting services, and Mike Daniels will become a senior vice president in charge of traditional outsourcing services. In addition, Janet Perna, general manager of IBM’s Information Management unit, has announced her plans to retire. Perna’s unit is responsible for development and sales of the DB2 database products.
The Department of Homeland Security needs to develop a recovery plan for widespread attack on the Internet, and it needs stable leadership in cybersecurity, a government investigator last week told a Senate subcommittee. While DHS can track Internet threats, it doesn’t have an Internet recovery plan or a national cybersecurity threat assessment, said David Powner, director of IT management for the Government Accountability Office. DHS is making progress, but more work needs to be done, he said. “Until DHS addresses its many challenges . . . it cannot function as a cybersecurity focal point for coordinating federal law and policy,” Powner said. “The result is an increased risk, and large portions of our critical infrastructure are unprepared to effectively handle a cybersecurity attack.” Senators echoed Powner’s criticisms. “The United States does not currently have a robust ability to detect a coordinated attack on our critical infrastructure, nor does it have a measurable recovery and reconstitution plan for key mechanisms of the Internet and telecommunications system,” said Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
Cisco’s Linksys division is set to make a leap into networked entertainment devices with the acquisition of KISS Technology, in Horsholm, Denmark. The company, whose name stands for Keep It Simple Solutions, makes a range of consumer products for the European market that includes DVD players, a video recorder and a plasma TV that all can link into home data networks. Linksys will pay about $61 million in cash and stock for all the shares of KISS and will integrate the company into Linksys upon approval of the deal, expected in the first quarter of Cisco’s 2006 fiscal year, ending in October. After the acquisition, KISS will continue to sell its current products in Europe under the KISS brand for a long time, said Janie Tsao, a cofounder of Linksys and senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development. Linksys, the largest vendor of home network equipment, such as Wi-Fi routers, wants to get into “networked entertainment” products such as DVD players that can communicate with PCs and other devices on a home network and send video streams to a television.
Santa Clara security start-up Nevis Networks last week named Charles Dauber its president and CEO. Dauber had been vice president for security systems at Blue Coat. Nevis, which expects to announce a high-speed ASIC-based appliance for LAN security later this year as its first product, said it has received $32.5 million in venture funding from New Enterprise Associates, Blue Run and New Pass Ventures. The company was founded in 2002 by Marish Muthal and Amol Mahajani, who formerly worked in product development at Juniper and Cisco.
