HICAGO (Reuters) - Some of the software code that Cisco Systems Inc. uses to run its gear that directs Internet traffic may have been stolen, the company said on Monday, adding it was investigating.
"Cisco is aware that a potential compromise of its proprietary information occurred and was reported on a public Web site," said a statement from the world's largest maker of Internet equipment. "The Cisco Information Security team is looking into this matter and investigating."
A spokeswoman for the San Jose, California-based company would not say whether or how much of its code may have been stolen.
Source code, the underlying blueprint of computer software, determines how programs work. Companies like Cisco and Microsoft Corp. zealously guard their source code because they consider it the lifeblood of their business.
reuters
May 18, 2004, 02:24 PM
