American Technology conglomerate, Cisco Systems has agreed to pay a settlement for a case brought forth by a former contractor. The company faced accusations of selling vulnerable surveillance software to the US government.

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Reports estimate the total amount to settle the case at $8.6 million. The money will serve as a refund for the US federal government and 16 other states. However, the company will pay about $1.6 million of the sum to the contractor who alerted the government of the issue. The lawsuit, initially filed in 2011, finally wrapped up on Wednesday, 31st July 2019.

The Danish subcontractor said he found a flaw in Cisco’s Video Surveillance Manager. It is a software package that the company uses to control surveillance cameras and store recorded video feeds. According to the suit, the flaw could allow a hacker to gain access to data stored in the Viable System Model (VSM) systems. With access, it was able to turn off cameras and gain access to client’s networks.

Whistle-blower Gets Cisco Money Too

Cisco allegedly received notifications on the issue in October 2008, but the company reportedly failed to fix the bug. Apparently, it continued to sell the software to customer and even the government agencies. A statement from Cisco says,

“We are pleased to have resolved a 2011 dispute involving the architecture of a video security technology product we added to our portfolio through the Broadware acquisition in 2007.”

“There was no allegation or evidence that any unauthorised access to customers’ video occurred as a result of the architecture,” it added. Cisco also says it has advised customers to upgrade to the latest version of the software where it had fixed the issues. The company explained that all sales of the older version of the software ended by September 2014.

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