According to a lawsuit filed against tech giant Nvidia, senior staff member Mohammad Moniruzzaman made this error with disastrous consequences. In the course of it, Valeo claims he accidentally displayed a file proving he stole its tech secrets. The tech that Valeo claims he took was the source code behind its parking and driving assistance software - an area Nvidia has been trying to expand into. "So brazen was Mr Moniruzzaman's theft," the complaint alleges, "The file path on his screen still read ValeoDocs" - suggesting it was a folder specifically containing documents taken from Valeo. Valeo claims Mr Moniruzzaman took gigabytes of data in 2021 when he was working for the German arm of the French firm. A letter written by Nvidia's lawyers submitted with the lawsuit said the tech giant was not aware Mr Moniruzzaman had the data. The firms worked on a joint project, which led to the Microsoft Teams meeting in March 2022 when Mr Moniruzzaman unwittingly revealed the data. Valeo claims that Mr Moniruzzaman gave a slide presentation and then minimised the app he was using - but crucially, he was still sharing his screen, leaving visible the file which Valeo says contained the source code behind its proprietary software. "Valeo participants on the videoconference call immediately recognised the source code and took a screenshot before Mr Moniruzzaman was alerted of his error," the lawsuit claims. "When questioned by the German police, Mr Moniruzzaman admitted to stealing Valeo's software and using that software while employed at Nvidia," the lawsuit claims. This conviction has now led to Valeo launching a suit against Nvidia itself, in which it claims the tech giant benefitted financially from its "Stolen trade secrets". "In using these stolen trade secrets to develop a competing product, Nvidia has diminished the value of Valeo's trade secrets," it says. The lawsuit has been filed by Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH, the German arm of French firm. It is seeking significant damages, and wants the court to make an injunction prohibiting Nvidia and its affiliates from using Valeo's code. It has been filed in a court in California, which is where Nvidia is headquartered. In the complaint, Valeo states that after the Teams call in March 2022 it audited its systems and found Mr Moniruzzaman had copied their source code, along with "Tens of thousands of files" containing other proprietary information. As part of the complaint, Valeo also submitted a letter it received from Nvidia in June 2022. In the letter, lawyers representing Nvidia state Mr Moniruzzaman's actions "Were entirely unknown" to the firm until May 2022 - the date he told his employer he was under investigation. According to their letter, Mr Monizruzzaman told Nvidia the code was "Stored only locally on his laptop", so it could not be accessed by other people at the company. "Nvidia has no interest in Valeo's code or its alleged trade secrets and has taken prompt concrete steps to protect your client's asserted rights," the letter reads, adding that the firm has "Cooperated fully".
This Cyber News was published on www.bbc.com. Publication date: Thu, 30 Nov 2023 23:19:27 +0000