nortel

Here’s a stock tip Valeant investors should have heeded: If a company that’s not a bank becomes the largest in Canada, run!

For almost ten years, hackers had “widespread access” to Nortel’s corporate network, reports the Wall Street Journal. As early as the year 2000, hackers believed to be in China were able to access technical papers, research-and-development reports, business plans, employee emails and other documents, using passwords stolen from seven of Nortel’s top executives. Brian Shields, a former Nortel employee for 19 years who led an internal investigation into the case, says the hackers “had access to everything.”

In the midst of defending the Senate, Colin Kenny offers the following.

The Department of National Defence didn’t want Parliament to know how much it was going to spend building itself a new headquarters.

Some Canadian firms are showing how the sector could drive the economy of the future

Crusader. Hacker. Megalomaniac. Extortionist.

Can having a staff scared for their jobs be good for business?

Whatever the merits of subsidizing Nortel’s past research, blocking the Ericsson sale won’t get the money back

Andrew Coyne on the weakest part of RIM’s case

Nortel workers could lose 90 per cent of their severance pay

So, remember how Michael Chong kinda sorta took a cheap shot at RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis just as he was finishing up his testimony before the Industry committee today? When he suggested that there seemed to be a double standard as far as his objections to the way the Nortel auction was handled, and his fellow co-founder Jim Balsillie’s objections to the NHL league auction process? And then instead of giving Lazaridis the chance to reply, he gaveled down and adjourned the meeting? Which ITQ thought was a little bit unfair, since it was sort of taking advantage of his chairmanly powers?

We’re having a pretty good discussion about Nortel over here, as we try to decide whether Roger Martin’s stern lecture in Monday’s Globe about How The World Really Works is, you know, reality-based. Results so far are inconclusive. Meanwhile, two more thoughts, of perhaps varying orders of seriousness, on this whole business.