Mercedes Sues F-1 Engineer for Data Theft Before Move to Ferrari

Oh Gawd

 

Hungary race. A race Mercedes lost and Ferrari won.

 

I smell real fear at Mercedes

 

Deja vu .

 

Is there any proof that Ferrari actually has the data?

 

If I were Mercedes boss I'd wait till that guy was already at Ferrari to sue him. I call it the **** in the fan tactic.

 

So AFTER the second season in a row where Mercedes has dominated, we have these ridiculous Lewis and Nico need to play nice articles, Niki Lauda is leaving ( not that I understand what he does for them) or doesn't get along with Toto stories, and now this bit of news.

I thought it was much more interesting to at least follow two drivers in similar cars fighting it out every race.

 

return the data?

like that means ferrari hasn't already looked it all over and hit "save as" lol. c'mon mercedes, stop being a b***h.

 

Snap

 

Not even that! Last year they did for a couple of races and hit each other in one or two,
but this year? Nah, it was whomever was at the front that would win.

 

Because W06 was impossible to follow.


This legal thing is going to drag on for ages of Merc prove ferrari used Merc developed tech. Nightmare mode on

 

That's not the race data I would look for if I was Ferrari.

Btw Ferrari saying they do not have a contract with the guy yet, just spoke to him about it.

 

I call this BS. There's no proof that he actually accessed the computer files, saved on a dis or pendrive, and handed over to Ferrari.

 

The plot thickens......

So much for that scenario........

Cheers,
Ian
Mercedes engineer being sued for stealing data not joining Ferrari - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

 

Also (From: Ferrari say accused engineer not joining them - Formula 1 - Eurosport Australia ):


Ferrari say accused engineer not joining them

A Mercedes engineer who has been accused by the Formula One world champions of data theft will not be joining Ferrari and never had a contract with them, the Italian team said on Wednesday.

"There were talks but nothing led to a formal contract. He's not even going to join us in the foreseeable future," a spokesman said.

"It's not true that he was on the verge of joining us. What he did concerns only him and the company he was working for," he added. "We are not involved in this."

Mercedes, the dominant team in Formula One for the past two seasons, confirmed on Tuesday that they were taking action against a senior engineer who had taken confidential technical information from them.

Court documents indicated Benjamin Hoyle was intending to join Ferrari.

"A legal action is underway involving Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) Limited and an employee who is due to leave the company at the end of the year," a Mercedes team spokesman had said.

"The company has taken the appropriate legal steps to protect its intellectual property."

HPP design, build and supply the team's power units.

Ferrari are Mercedes's closest rivals after making big improvements to their power unit and performance following a dismal 2014 season in which they failed to win a race.

Key figures in Formula One teams who have had access to sensitive information are usually put on lengthy 'gardening leave' when they hand in their notice to ensure they are far removed from any current data.

Teams have always kept a close eye on rivals in the highly secretive sport, with mechanics often shielding sensitive aerodynamic parts from photographers, and regularly try to poach star employees.

Formula One was rocked by a major spying controversy in 2007 when a 780-page dossier of Ferrari technical information was found in the possession of then-McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan.

Coughlan was sacked by McLaren while Ferrari dismissed Nigel Stepney, the engineer accused of passing the information to him.

McLaren were subsequently handed a record $100 million fine, although they ultimately paid less, with the loss of all their constructors' points.

 

Probably should have had a contract prior to stealing info. It's so bizarre to me that people think they can do such things and not get caught. If you're on a network... there's a trail and eventually it'll lead to you.

I'm glad Ferrari is not engaged with the guy.

 

Now, if they keep tracing things back, they will find Alonso and Dennis at the end of the line.....

 

He'd fit right in with McLaren, that's for sure. Dennis might be on the blower already to hire him.

 

That's one hell of a claim! And one to which I'd have to note 'maybe'......

Yes, it's possible to run S/W that'll (basically) audit everything, down to individual keystrokes if required, but it's not widely used outside some military environments. The overhead is just too much. I very much doubt Merc (or any of them) are using that kind of stuff. It's also a major league PITA to administer & keep 'relevant'.

I'm pretty sure I could dump files to a USB drive without anyone knowing in 99% of environments.

Cheers,
Ian

 

MB must be terrified of Ferrari catching them....

 

In many "environments" in UK, the company would be able to trace who open which files, who download them, who save them, where , when, etc...

It's in the interest of companies to protect their data, their clients details, etc... and they spend more and more doing it.

Of course, sometimes hackers break through that protection ...