Security Researcher Guillermito Fined in Civil Case

Today the Harvard based French security researcher Guillame Tena, aka Guillermito, was sentenced to pay a fine of 10 300 euros in damages and interests to Tegam in a civil case, according to his own blog [French]. Tegam had sought 9000 000 euros in damages. It looks like he is going to appeal the decision.

In March Guillame Tena was fined a suspended fine of 5000 euros for counterfeiting in a criminal case. He had used a pirated version of Tegam's Viguard anti-virus software for his research, in which he showed several vulnerabilities in the software. Tegam used questionable (scare) tactics against Tena in the run up to the criminal and civil processes, and one can question if the claim of counterfeiting was actually brought to effectively prevent the (re)publication of his research. In the meantime Tegam came in a state of liquidation, while the rights on Viguard were taken over by another company [French link]. Details on the latest ruling will probably emerge in the coming days. For background on the Guillermito case, see this earlier post (especially the update): Security Researcher Condemned for Publication Vulnerability.