Ownership Dispute Involving Palo Alto Hardware

[patrickshinkevich]

Hello, PaloAlto community

I understand that this place may not be the most appropriate for this kind of request/post. I hope I am not violating any forum rules and if I am - I apologize. At the moment, however, I have no other effective means of reaching PaloAlto directly.

I have tried to contact PaloAlto through both email and phone, but  was left partially ignored and my request has not been resolved. I will briefly describe our company's situation here and hope that appropriate PaloAlto representatives may notice this post and assist me. I will not disclose any identifying names or sensitive information unless it is requested directly by PaloAlto staff.

Around a year ago, our company purchased PaloAlto hardware, which was later provided to another company, that, at the time was our business partner. That hardware, along with other equipment HAS NOT been sold to them. Our companies have been closely interconnected with each other until that company began acting inappropriately and engaged in unlawful activities. These actions included attempts to pressure our company into complying with their internal demands and policies, even at the cost of severely damaging the business infrastructure and cooperation that had been built over time.

That company has now been blacklisted by us, however, due to nature of our previous cooperation, they still retain a substantial portion of our equipment, including PaloAlto hardware and are refusing to return it. Our company is currently gathering all necessary documentation and preparing for legal proceedings, but our equipment is being held hostage and is being used for unjust enrichment.

I have contacted PaloAlto to know if it is possible to somehow suspend access to these devices or at least terminate/revoke our current subscriptions that have came with the devices, by providing them with authentication codes and S/N's. We were also ready to provide them documents that confirm our ownership, but it never got to that point, unfortunately. PaloAlto support informed me that our request had been redirected to "accounts team", but shortly after that the case was abruptly closed, despite there still being several days remaining before automatic closure. When I reopened it by sending them a follow-up question - it was closed again almost immediately.

At this point, on behalf of our company, I am simply trying to connect with someone who can properly review the situation and advise whether any further assistance is possible. 

[kiwi]

Hi @patrickshinkevich ,

I am sorry to hear about the difficult situation your company is facing regarding your hardware. While the LIVEcommunity is a technical forum and we do not have access to legal or account data, I can offer some guidance on the best way to move this forward.

In cases involving legal disputes or hardware "hostage" situations, standard technical support cases are often closed because those teams are equipped for troubleshooting, not legal arbitration. Ownership disputes must be handled by the Accounts and Legal teams through a formal verification process.

1. Immediate Self-Service (Super User Access): If you or someone at your company still has Super User access to the Customer Support Portal (CSP) account where these devices are registered, you have significant control over the digital assets:

• Revoke Access: You can immediately remove CSP access for any members of the other company who may still be listed under your account.

• Manage Subscriptions: While you cannot "remote kill" physical hardware, a Super User can manage the support accounts and visibility of the licenses associated with those serial numbers.

• Verify Ownership: Check if the assets are still under your account. If they have been transferred without your consent, this is critical information for your legal case.

2. The Correct Channel for Resolution: Since technical support is not the right avenue for this, the most effective way to reach the appropriate representatives is through your dedicated Palo Alto Networks Account Manager (AM).

• Contact your Partner: Reach out to the authorized Palo Alto Networks partner/reseller you purchased the equipment from. They have a direct line to regional sales leadership and can facilitate a meeting between your legal team and ours to review your ownership documentation.

• Regional Sales Office: If you do not know your partner, you can contact the Palo Alto Networks sales office in your region directly.

Because this involves a legal dispute, Palo Alto Networks staff will require a verified chain of custody and ownership documents before any action can be taken on subscriptions or account transfers.

I hope this helps you find the right path to a resolution.

[patrickshinkevich]

Hello, @kiwi

Thank you for the detailed response. I will forward this information to my company.

I was the one responsible for procuring the hardware and communicated directly with the distributor. Based on the information I have gathered, as well as our our old emails, it appears that CSP access may have been granted to malicious actors, specifically the company that is currently holding the hardware.

We still possess the authentication codes, but when I tried to register a CSP account using our serial numbers and using any of the authentication codes, I received an error, likely because the devices and/or codes are associated with another account(-s).

While we will proceed with the formal verification process you mentioned in your message, could you please advise whether there are any possible actions we can take to restore CSP access in our situation?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.