A Washington, D.C., law firm has sued IBM claiming that the computing giant is responsible for a 2005 attack on its e-mail server.Butera & Andrews claims that an unknown IBM employee attempted to attack its e-mail server in November of last year, shortly after the law firm discovered that its computer had been taken over by an unknown attacker. Security investigators traced the source of the attack to a computer within IBM’s Cornwallis Road facility in Durham, N.C., the law firm alleges.The lawsuit was filed April 7 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Washington.An analysis of computer logs revealed “over 42,000” attempts by IBM-controlled machines to attack Butera & Andrews servers during 2005, the lawsuit claims. Butera & Andrews is asking the court to force IBM to disclose information related to the attacks, and to award it damages, including the US$61,000 it spent investigating the matter.IBM has asked for the case to be dismissed, saying that Butera & Andrews “alleges no facts to justify its supposition that its systems were attacked by an IBM employee, as opposed to a computer hacker.” The law firm may have a hard time proving that IBM is to blame for this attack, according to a computer security expert.Though Butera & Andrews may have traced their attack to an IP address controlled by IBM, (170.224.68.57, according to court filings) that address may have been spoofed, or IBM’s servers themselves may have been taken over by outside attackers, said Russ Cooper, a senior information security analyst at Cybertrust. “There are lots of possibilities,” he said. Butera & Andrews senior partner James Butera declined to comment on the matter, except to point out that IBM had not denied that its computers were involved in the attack.IBM spokespeople were not immediately available to comment for this story.-Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud feature 10 most popular IT certifications for 2023 Certifications are a great way to show employers you have the right IT skills and specializations for the job. These 10 certs are the ones IT pros are most likely to pursue, according to data from Dice. By Sarah K. White May 26, 2023 8 mins Certifications Careers interview Stepping up to the challenge of a global conglomerate CIO role Dr. Amrut Urkude became CIO of Reliance Polyester after his company was acquired by Reliance Industries. He discusses challenges IT leaders face while transitioning from a small company to a large multinational enterprise, and how to overcome them. By Yashvendra Singh May 26, 2023 7 mins Digital Transformation Careers brandpost With the new financial year looming, now is a good time to review your Microsoft 365 licenses By Veronica Lew May 25, 2023 5 mins Lenovo Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe