Zone Labs: Anatomy of a Coverup

How angels stay clean and scandals stay silent.

Part Thirteen - Michelle Delio

Michelle Delio, tech reporter at Wired, was brought into the scoop early on. When Rick first intimated the possibility of a story about Zone Alarm not even trying to block traffic at adapter level, Michelle wrote back:

I WANT THAT STORY.

Unfortunately, Michelle was to be given the intimate details of Tom's and Rick's research, ask them outright how to run the story, promise to follow their advice, listen attentively to each detail - and then betray the both of them, left and right. Tom wrote to Rick:

We just got sold out.

Michelle was not to supply Zone Labs with any programs at all, but to merely ask the pointed question: 'Does Zone Alarm or does Zone Alarm not protect users by filtering packets at the true packet level?'

Michelle agreed to do this - then turned around and:

1. Set up a phone interview with contact Gregor Freund (a contact Rick had supplied).
2. Immediately sent over all relevant programs to said Gregor Freund.
3. Had the audacity to write back to Rick and Tom and ask how she should send the missing packet capture libraries.

At this point Tom Liston was convinced he'd been sold up the river, and he was right. But the best was yet to come.

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