Contest troubles Pitbull owner

Argus Systems dogged by problems after publicity stunt goes wrong

A competition run by Argus Systems to publicise its Pitbull intrusion detection product has backfired after the winners claimed they had not been paid.

In April 2001, Argus challenged all comers to crack a server protected by Pitbull and offered a prize of £35,000. Within 24 hours, a Polish group called Last Stage of Delirium (LSD) cracked it.

The prize should have been paid before 15 May 2001, but the group has seen only $5,000 of the money and is now taking legal action.

"No one from Argus has contacted us since February or March 2002," the group told CRN. "We do not think this is a UK-only issue. Argus Systems is a US firm which used to have offices in Europe."

Integralis, a UK reseller, was mentioned in recent coverage of the story as it resells Pitbull in the UK.

But LSD said it did not think Integralis was directly involved in the competition.

Phillip Wicks, a representative at Integralis, said: "Argus in the EU has effectively gone bang. We were reselling its systems and gave the firm some room on our stand at Infosec, but other than that, we didn't have much involvement."