HALL OF BLAME
=============

The US Department of the Interior has distributed memos at affiliated
agencies (such as the USGS) that instruct their staff to uninstall
LAStools claiming my  software would present a serious security risk:

http://linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6687103412284248064/
http://twitter.com/LAStools/status/1280599834882445312

This is a lie. This is a false allegation. When questioned by several of
my customers, the federal agencies were unable to produce anything to back
up their malicious claim. No suprise. There is no security risk. Why would
there be? Why would we risk over ten years of - not only - the hard work of
creating the LAStools software but also the hard earned trust of the LiDAR
and point cloud community?

It seems a mid-level manager at BLM created this mess with an alarmist call.
This note will remain here until we received apology and retraction of the
defamation, slander and libel of our software, company and CEO.

=============
BAD USGS MEMO
=============

From: Kwong, Jerry <jkwong@usgs.gov> on behalf of Notifications Do Not Reply,
      GS System <GS_System_Notifications_Do_Not_Reply@usgs.gov>
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2020 12:24 PM
To: Notifications Do Not Reply, GS System <GS_System_Notifications_Do_Not_Reply@usgs.gov>
Subject: [HIGH PRIORITY] LASTool Suite Presents Potential Risk to USGS Projects and Programs
To: IT All
Date: July 13, 2020
Subject: [HIGH PRIORITY] LASTool Suite Presents Risk to USGS Projects and Programs

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The USGS Computer Security Incident Response Team was informed by DOI staff
of a potential security issue with LASTools, a widely used software suite
in GIS/LIDAR communities developed by a company called Rapidlasso in Germany.
In recent days, several DOI bureaus have decided to remove this software from
their environment. At this time, USGS is not requiring removal as these tools
are used to perform critical business functions which cannot be readily replaced
with another product. However, since this situation has gained attention from
law enforcement entities, it is feared that a directive could be issued to remove
the software at some point in the future.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

Long term dependence on LASTools presents a serious risk to any USGS project or
program that relies on it. If any component of this tool suite is installed and
not needed on computers, please remove it as soon as possible. If actively used,
project managers should evaluate needs and plan a path forward which will mitigate
the risk(s) presented by this tool suite.

Please redistribute this notice to employees within your area of influence.

Thank you,

ITSOT - CSIRT
OFFICE OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION
GS Service Desk
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the USGS Service Desk.
Chat: https://itsupport.usgs.gov
Web: https://support.usgs.gov
email: servicedesk@usgs.gov
Phone: 703-648-4357
Website: https://servicedesk.usgs.gov

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The "HALL OF BLAME" is our way to stand up against false allegations about our
software LAStools, our company rapidlasso GmbH or our CEO Dr. Martin Isenburg.
