Just when you thought, it was over. More Blue Coat Systems proxy servers appear
to be in Syria. Not a good may for Blue Coat COO and president David Murphy. This technology is
forbidden to be sold into the country.
This was conveniently ignored by a rogue reseller in 2011.
In a statement made in December 2011 by Blue Coat after a number of Blue Coat servers were discovered to being used by the Syrian government – “We
don’t want our products to be used by the government of Syria or any other
country embargoed by the United States. If
our review of the facts about this diversion presents solutions that enable us
to better protect against future illegal and unwanted diversion of our
products, we intend to take steps to implement them.”
Fast forward to March, 2013.
Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders named Blue Coat Systems (now a
private company held by Thoma Bravo) as among the "corporate enemies of
the internet". They stated that
Blue Coat was among five companies whose equipment has been used for
surveillance and censorship by "authoritarian regimes."
On March 23, a group of computer hackers known as Telecomix
released data it says show that 34 devices manufactured by California-based
Blue Coat Systems Inc. were being employed by Syrian telecom operators.
In April, Blue Coat issued a statement acknowledging that
Dubai-based Computerlinks ZFCO has been penalized for the “unlawful diversion
of Blue Coat ProxySG appliances to Syria” in 2011. Blue Coat also said that have taken
additional steps to guard against future diversions of its products by third
parties and that they have built up their compliance program. All good, then, until April.
On May 23, group computer hackers known as Telecomix released
a report stating that 34 Blue Coat System devices were being used by the Syrian
government, despite the US embargo.
Steps against “unwanted diversion” may
need to be strengthened. Enforcement is difficult for Blue Coat and other security vendors.It isn't a necessary evil. It's necessary. They rely on a network of resellers to sell
their products, and unfortunately, some of them do go rogue. Fortunately, Blue Coat and others can and do try to
prevent these systems from being upgraded and receiving any update files.
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