Columbia Sportswear Company issued the following statement regarding its resolution of a legal dispute with a former employee who improperly accessed its private computer network.
“Last summer, we discovered that a former employee, who then was working as an executive at one of our technology vendors, was accessing Columbia’s private computer network without our knowledge or authorization,” said Peter Bragdon, Columbia’s executive vice president and general counsel. “Any breach of our IT systems is an extremely serious matter, and we are grateful to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland for their responsiveness, expertise, and dedication to investigating and resolving this invasion of Columbia’s privacy. We are also particularly thankful for the diligent efforts of our IT employees, who discovered the former employee’s unauthorized access and enabled us to refer the matter to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for investigation.”
Columbia has settled its civil claims against the former employee. Columbia’s claims against the technology vendor where the former employee worked will continue.
Photo courtesy Columbia
