rotornut
29th Nov 2004, 10:56
GLOBEANDMAIL.COM
E-sleuths dissect WestJet hard drives
Court-appointed forensic auditors hunting for evidence of spying against Air Canada
By BRENT JANG
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
POSTED AT 5:29 AM EST Monday, Nov 29, 2004
A court-appointed forensic auditing firm is scrutinizing hard drives seized from WestJet Airlines Ltd., including chairman Clive Beddoe's computer, seeking to uncover electronic evidence of spying against Air Canada in a legal fight that's the talk of the airline sector.
H+A Computer Forensics Inc. took the WestJet hard drives last month and is now examining data transferred from those drives as Air Canada's $220-million espionage lawsuit against WestJet heats up, said sources close to the case.
A WestJet spokeswoman confirmed that the Calgary-based airline abided by the court order to hand over the hard drives to H+A, but declined comment on the courtroom fight. WestJet has denied wrongdoing in its statement of defence.
An Ontario Superior Court judge had cleared the way for H+A experts to start their sophisticated search through certain WestJet e-mail messages and electronic files. Toronto-based H+A specializes in uncovering digital data.
Mr. Justice Ian Nordheimer granted the order to appoint "an independent expert to inquire into, inspect and report on the electronic records contained in the hard drives and other electronic storage devices used by WestJet" executives and employees.
Since that order was filed in court last month, H+A has been reviewing data from at least seven hard drives, starting with one from Mark Hill, who resigned as WestJet's vice-president of strategic planning in July, said sources familiar with the lawsuit.
Hard drives belonging to Mr. Beddoe, Donald Bell and Mr. Hill -- three of WestJet's four co-founders -- are among the "electronic storage devices" being inspected.
Mr. Bell is WestJet's co-chief operating officer while Mr. Beddoe serves as chairman, president and chief executive officer.
The court order instructs H+A to catalogue its findings after examining the hard drives, "including deleted records that the inspector has restored."
The other four hard drives belong to WestJet employees Sven Hansen and Mike Middlebrook, WestJet director of strategic planning Scott Butler and former WestJet executive Bill Lamberton, who resigned as the airline's vice-president of marketing in November, 2003.
The search for an electronic trail comes as Montreal-based Air Canada seeks to strengthen its lawsuit against WestJet.
In March, detectives hired by Air Canada removed shredded documents from Mr. Hill's garbage.
The detectives were searching the area near Mr. Hill's home in the Victoria suburb of Oak Bay.
Canada's flag carrier then hired a U.S. firm to digitally reconstruct the shredded papers, which contain summaries of Air Canada's "best and worst" routes based on passenger loads.
Air Canada alleges that WestJet generated the summaries by stealing data -- hacking into a confidential Air Canada reservations website for employees and retirees.
But WestJet's statement of defence says customer data about Air Canada could be obtained by counting passengers at airports and other legitimate techniques for gathering information about rivals.
WestJet also counters that financial losses at Air Canada, which emerged from 18 months of bankruptcy protection on Sept. 30, should be blamed on its own mismanagement, inept ticket pricing and high-cost structure. In court documents, WestJet has distanced itself from Mr. Hill, who has denied wrongdoing in his statement of defence. None of the allegations have been proved in court.
It's unclear how long it will take for H+A to complete its review of the WestJet hard drives, but the court order said the examination must focus on records that are "relevant to the action" and that a so-called inspector's list of pertinent details be provided to the court.
And if it's not possible to complete the full inspector's list by the first week of December, then a list of pertinent electronic data should be released in stages, starting with data from the hard drive of Mr. Hill.
"The inspector's list shall describe the electronic records in sufficient detail to permit the parties to assess their relevance, but shall not divulge the contents of the electronic records," the court order states.
The Air Canada-WestJet battle has become the hot topic in the country's aviation industry as the legal fight intensifies. Air Canada launched its lawsuit against WestJet in April. Montreal-based Jetsgo Corp. filed a subsequent espionage lawsuit against WestJet in October.
The case heated up earlier this month when Air Canada added Mr. Beddoe, Mr. Bell, Mr. Butler, Mr. Lamberton and Brenda Trockstad, WestJet director of commercial and schedule planning, to its list of defendants. WestJet, Mr. Hill and Jeffrey Lafond, a former Air Canada employee, were named in April as defendants. Mr. Hansen and Mr. Middlebrook are not defendants.
Air Canada accuses Mr. Hill of using the access code of Mr. Lafond to improperly gain access to the special website. Mr. Lafond, a WestJet financial analyst, is on a paid leave of absence from the airline.
E-sleuths dissect WestJet hard drives
Court-appointed forensic auditors hunting for evidence of spying against Air Canada
By BRENT JANG
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
POSTED AT 5:29 AM EST Monday, Nov 29, 2004
A court-appointed forensic auditing firm is scrutinizing hard drives seized from WestJet Airlines Ltd., including chairman Clive Beddoe's computer, seeking to uncover electronic evidence of spying against Air Canada in a legal fight that's the talk of the airline sector.
H+A Computer Forensics Inc. took the WestJet hard drives last month and is now examining data transferred from those drives as Air Canada's $220-million espionage lawsuit against WestJet heats up, said sources close to the case.
A WestJet spokeswoman confirmed that the Calgary-based airline abided by the court order to hand over the hard drives to H+A, but declined comment on the courtroom fight. WestJet has denied wrongdoing in its statement of defence.
An Ontario Superior Court judge had cleared the way for H+A experts to start their sophisticated search through certain WestJet e-mail messages and electronic files. Toronto-based H+A specializes in uncovering digital data.
Mr. Justice Ian Nordheimer granted the order to appoint "an independent expert to inquire into, inspect and report on the electronic records contained in the hard drives and other electronic storage devices used by WestJet" executives and employees.
Since that order was filed in court last month, H+A has been reviewing data from at least seven hard drives, starting with one from Mark Hill, who resigned as WestJet's vice-president of strategic planning in July, said sources familiar with the lawsuit.
Hard drives belonging to Mr. Beddoe, Donald Bell and Mr. Hill -- three of WestJet's four co-founders -- are among the "electronic storage devices" being inspected.
Mr. Bell is WestJet's co-chief operating officer while Mr. Beddoe serves as chairman, president and chief executive officer.
The court order instructs H+A to catalogue its findings after examining the hard drives, "including deleted records that the inspector has restored."
The other four hard drives belong to WestJet employees Sven Hansen and Mike Middlebrook, WestJet director of strategic planning Scott Butler and former WestJet executive Bill Lamberton, who resigned as the airline's vice-president of marketing in November, 2003.
The search for an electronic trail comes as Montreal-based Air Canada seeks to strengthen its lawsuit against WestJet.
In March, detectives hired by Air Canada removed shredded documents from Mr. Hill's garbage.
The detectives were searching the area near Mr. Hill's home in the Victoria suburb of Oak Bay.
Canada's flag carrier then hired a U.S. firm to digitally reconstruct the shredded papers, which contain summaries of Air Canada's "best and worst" routes based on passenger loads.
Air Canada alleges that WestJet generated the summaries by stealing data -- hacking into a confidential Air Canada reservations website for employees and retirees.
But WestJet's statement of defence says customer data about Air Canada could be obtained by counting passengers at airports and other legitimate techniques for gathering information about rivals.
WestJet also counters that financial losses at Air Canada, which emerged from 18 months of bankruptcy protection on Sept. 30, should be blamed on its own mismanagement, inept ticket pricing and high-cost structure. In court documents, WestJet has distanced itself from Mr. Hill, who has denied wrongdoing in his statement of defence. None of the allegations have been proved in court.
It's unclear how long it will take for H+A to complete its review of the WestJet hard drives, but the court order said the examination must focus on records that are "relevant to the action" and that a so-called inspector's list of pertinent details be provided to the court.
And if it's not possible to complete the full inspector's list by the first week of December, then a list of pertinent electronic data should be released in stages, starting with data from the hard drive of Mr. Hill.
"The inspector's list shall describe the electronic records in sufficient detail to permit the parties to assess their relevance, but shall not divulge the contents of the electronic records," the court order states.
The Air Canada-WestJet battle has become the hot topic in the country's aviation industry as the legal fight intensifies. Air Canada launched its lawsuit against WestJet in April. Montreal-based Jetsgo Corp. filed a subsequent espionage lawsuit against WestJet in October.
The case heated up earlier this month when Air Canada added Mr. Beddoe, Mr. Bell, Mr. Butler, Mr. Lamberton and Brenda Trockstad, WestJet director of commercial and schedule planning, to its list of defendants. WestJet, Mr. Hill and Jeffrey Lafond, a former Air Canada employee, were named in April as defendants. Mr. Hansen and Mr. Middlebrook are not defendants.
Air Canada accuses Mr. Hill of using the access code of Mr. Lafond to improperly gain access to the special website. Mr. Lafond, a WestJet financial analyst, is on a paid leave of absence from the airline.