According to Intentia, its investigation revealed evidence of
"unauthorised entry" into its computer network, via an IP-address
belonging to Reuters.
The company claims that the entry took place 12:51 pm on 24th
October, "prior to the publication of the interim report for the
third quarter of 2002", and that Reuters released the first news
flash giving information on the report at 12:57, "without prior
confirmation" from Intentia.
Intentia said in a statement: "We question the methods used by
Reuters, and our judgement is that we cannot rule out the
possibility of illegal actions. As a consequence we will file
criminal charges regarding the incident."
It is noted that Reuters published the report when it was
already on Intentia's web site, but the IT company alleges that the
particular page was not available through normal channels on the
site.
Reuters has rejected Intentia's allegations as "of no
substance."
At the same time, Finnish energy company Fortum Oyj is also
investigating an incident involving an earnings report that
allegedly appeared on Reuters web site before its scheduled
publication.
