Ex-Microsoft programmer arrested and charged with leaking Windows 8 code

[sujith]

An ex-Microsoft Corp. employee accused of leaking Windows 8 code to a tech blogger -- and bragging about breaking into the Redmond campus -- now faces federal criminal charges following allegations that he stole trade secrets.

Arrested Wednesday, software architect Alex Kibkalo is accused of stealing Microsoft trade secrets while working for the company. Investigators contend Kibkalo was also caught bragging about leaking Windows 7 program files, as well as an internal system meant to protect against software piracy.

Having spent seven years working for Microsoft, Kibkalo is alleged to have leaked Windows 8 code to a French technology blogger in mid-2012, prior to the software’s release. Kibkalo was apparently angry over a poor performance review.

Writing the court, a Seattle-based FBI special agent said Microsoft brought its concerns to him in July, nearly a year after corporate investigators suspected Kibkalo had leaked parts of Windows 8. He is said to have admitted to passing the information to the blogger – unidentified in charging papers – after a meeting in an online forum.

Kibkalo, a Russian national who worked there and in Lebanon for Microsoft, also alleged to have stolen Microsoft’s “Activation Server Software Development Kit,” a propriety system used to prevent the unauthorized copying of Microsoft programs.

Speaking with the FBI, a Microsoft manager said the software development kit “could help a hacker trying to reverse engineer the code” used to protect against software piracy, according to charging papers.

Microsoft came to believe Kibkalo sent the software development kit to the French blogger and encouraged the blogger to share it online so others could crack protections on Microsoft products, the FBI agent said in charging papers unsealed Wednesday.

Corporate investigators confronted Kibkalo in September 2012 during an interview in which he’s alleged to have admitted to sharing the software. Kibkalo is alleged to have admitted to sharing unreleased Windows programs as well as company memos and documents; Microsoft investigators claim he was angry after a poor performance review.

According to charging papers, the blogger posted screenshots of a pre-release version of Windows 8, presumably due to Kibkalo’s leak.

On Sept. 3, 2012, the blogger sent the stolen software development kit code to a Microsoft employee asking that he or she verify it, the FBI agent said in court papers. The worker went to a Microsoft executive instead.

The code was later confirmed to be authentic, prompting corporate investigators to dredge the Hotmail account the blogger used to contact the Microsoft worker. While the blogger took pains to protect his identity – he claimed falsely to be in Quebec and used an assumed name online – a Microsoft team dubbed Trustworthy Computing Investigations attempted to track the blogger down.

While searching the blogger’s account, Microsoft investigators found an email from Kibkalo in which he shared Windows 8 “hot fixes” through an online hosting system, the FBI agent continued. Windows 8 had not been released to the public at the time, and was the subject of much speculation in the industry.

Investigators claim to have recovered instant messages Kibkalo exchanged with the blogger showing Kibkalo was sharing trade secrets illegally.

“I would leak enterprise today probably,” Kibkalo told the blogger during an Aug. 2, 2012 exchange, according to charging papers.

“Hmm,” the blogger replied. “Are you sure you want to do that? Lol.”

Told the leak would be “pretty illegal,” Kibkalo is alleged to have responded “I know :)”

Kibkalo is alleged to have claimed to have previously leaked large portions of Windows 7 prior to its release. In an exchange with the blogger, Kibkalo purportedly described sneaking into Building 9 on Microsoft’s Redmond campus and attempting to copy a server.

Kibkalo was arrested Wednesday in Seattle. Charged with theft of trade secrets, he is expected to appear in U.S. District Court later Wednesday for an initial hearing.

As for the French blogger himself, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Investigations, a special team created by the Redmond software giant to help track him down, managed to discover the Hotmail account he used to communicate with Kibkalo, but his identity was pretty hard to be discovered. He used false details and contact information, claiming to be in Quebec and choosing a nickname to hide his identity during the conversations.

Source-http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Ex-Microsoft-employee-charged-with-passing-5331715.php

Edited March 20, 2014 by sujith

[ricktendo]

Wonder who the blogger is, could it be WZor?

[sujith]

Wonder who the blogger is, could it be WZor?

I hope its not Wzor. :( Lets hope for he best. :unsure:

[NeowinMOD™]

Looks like it's Wzor according to this news:

http://www.nsaneforums.com/topic/211877-windows-leak-site-wzor-goes-dark-a-day-after-feds-arrest-microsoft-mole/

Edited March 20, 2014 by NeowinMOD™

[locoJoe]

Dont worry, there is always someone else to step up and "take the reins". Windows will always be "free"ware!

[truemate]

Wonder who the blogger is, could it be WZor?

I hope its not Wzor. :( Lets hope for he best. :unsure:

WZor noooooooo

noVEMBERra1n NOOOOOOOOO

[sujith]

Windows Leaker Pleads Guilty in Court

Alex Kibkalo, a former Microsoft software architect that was recently arrested with charges of leaking Windows 8 and other software products belonging to the Redmond-based company to a French blogger, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court of Seattle, according to a new report.

Kibkalo agrees with a sentence of three months in a federal prison and a fine of $22,500, according to a new report bySeattlePI. Kibkalo, who recently turned 34, will serve three months in federal detention starting July, the report also states.

The former Microsoft employee worked for the software giant for a total of seven years, is accused of leaking code from Windows 8 in 2012 to a French blogger who then posted the files on the Internet. The blogger, who’s known online as Canoua, talked to Kibkalo via email, using Microsoft’s very own Hotmail.

A special team set up by the software giant to look into the leaks has been notified of suspicious activity of a Hotmail account, so Microsoft decided to check the account and search for information that could help the investigators determine the identity of the leaker.

Although Alex Kibkalo was quickly identified, Microsoft came under fire for looking into an email account, but the company defended itself by explaining that such a decision was perfectly legal because it only searched its own servers, so no court order was necessary.

Soon after that, Redmond decided to make a privacy change to its Terms of Service, pointing out that from now on, every time it wants to look into an email account, it would first ask for a court order and only then access the inbox it’s suspecting of illegal activity.

“If we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property from Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves. Instead, we will refer the matter to law enforcement if further action is required,” Brad Smith, general counsel & executive vice president, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft, said last week.

This means that when Microsoft receives information about a potential account that might infringe its own rules or steal intellectual property, the company won’t directly access the email account to look for evidence, but instead call the state authorities to do that. Of course, nothing tells us that the user would be notified about such an investigation, so the change isn’t so important after all for the end consumer, but instead take more time.

Source

[shasi]

He should be punished severely