Windows leak site Wzor goes dark a day after feds arrest Microsoft mole

[Reefa]

The noted Windows leak site Wzor.net was offline Thursday and its Twitter account had disappeared, a day after an ex-Microsoft employee was charged with stealing trade secrets -- including early builds of Windows 7 and Windows 8 -- and sharing them with others.

It's unknown whether there was a connection between Alex Kibkalo, the former Microsoft architect who was arrested Wednesday, and Wzor.net.

According to checks conducted by Computerworld, Wzor.net was offline and unreachable from the U.S., the U.K. and Romania. Websites that verify whether a specific website is up and running -- including Where's It Up and Is It Down Right Now? -- showed that Wzor.net was offline around the world.

"Wzor.net is down for everyone," the Is It Down Right Now? website reported.

Wzor's Twitter account had also vanished by early Thursday. "Sorry, that page doesn't exist," Twitter reported after attempts to access the account.

Kibkalo, a Russian national who worked in Microsoft's Lebanon office when he allegedly shared pre-release code for Windows RT and the internal-only Activation Server SDK (software development kit) with an unidentified French blogger, was arrested and detained yesterday. Wzor.net was a Russian-language website known for its prodigious publishing of leaked information about Windows pre-release builds.

Last month, Wzor leaked an early version of Windows 8.1 Update, the refresh Microsoft is expected to push to customers on April 8.

In the complaint filed with a Seattle federal court Monday -- but unsealed Wednesday -- authorities said instant message logs showed that Kibkalo claimed to have also leaked early builds of Windows 7 and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Those versions of Windows were publicly released in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Kibkalo worked at Microsoft for seven years, from May 2005 until September 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile, which remained available Thursday.

Kibkalo was terminated by Microsoft after an internal investigation, prompted by the discovery of emails from him to the blogger, whose Hotmail account contents had been read by officials in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Investigations (TWCI), a department tasked to protect the company from outside hackers and internal leakers. Kibkalo allegedly used his own Hotmail account to contact the blogger and his SkyDrive account to share code, including the Activation Server SDK.

According to the FBI, Kibkalo also set up a virtual machine on a Redmond, Wash.-based server owned by Microsoft to expedite his code theft and sharing.

During the years 2005-2010, Kibkalo worked for Microsoft's Russian operation before transferring to Lebanon.

Microsoft declined to answer questions about whether the Wzor.net outage was its doing or connected to the Kibkalo case.

As for Kibkalo's arrest and alleged theft, a company spokeswoman said, "We take protection of our intellectual property very seriously, including cooperating with law enforcement agencies who are investigating potential criminal actions by our employees or others."

Source

Edited March 20, 2014 by F3dupsk1Nup

[software182]

Bad news :(, so, kibkalo is wzor ? :unsure:

Edited March 20, 2014 by software182

[MrX]

Pity pity pity... :mellow:

[oliverjia]

bad news indeed. no more 8.1 update 1 early leak anymore. phuck..

[ricktendo]

Microsoft should thank this guy, not go after him

[psyko666]

Very, very bad news indeed.. :(

[lordnsane]

damn, very bad news indeed.. :( :sadwalk:

so, no more wzor from now?? :pos:

[stylemessiah]

Never downloaded any Wzor releases, mainly because i dont trust random ISO's from unknown sources, so yeah, couldnt care less.

Brought it on themselves, hard to have any sympathy for them.

[psyko666]

  On 3/20/2014 at 9:28 PM, stylemessiah said:

Never downloaded any Wzor releases, mainly because i dont trust random ISO's from unknown sources, so yeah, couldnt care less.

Brought it on themselves, hard to have any sympathy for them.

What a stupid comment.. -sigh-

Wzor was the best in bringing new Window releases/leaks.. trusted too!

[lyldz]

  On 3/20/2014 at 9:28 PM, stylemessiah said:

Never downloaded any Wzor releases, mainly because i dont trust random ISO's from unknown sources, so yeah, couldnt care less.

Brought it on themselves, hard to have any sympathy for them.

i think you dont know what is the meaning of md5 :uhuh:

[konrad3000]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247083/Ex_Microsoft_employee_arrested_accused_of_stealing_Windows_RT_product_activation_secrets

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247091/Windows_leak_site_Wzor_goes_dark_a_day_after_feds_arrest_Microsoft_mole

if the news is consistent then we have lost the best of all time..

:(

[eurobyn]

worked there from 2005 to 2010 ?????? windows 8 cames later and sorry , i do not believe this . (During the years 2005-2010, Kibkalo worked for Microsoft's Russian operation before transferring to Lebanon)

microsoft is the leaker itself. (they just want us to use it before release)

now here at 2014 (Kibkalo) stop working in 2010 ! and for what i think ! if it whas (Kibkalo) , then microsoft is a stupid company if they did not get it leaked before the launch date.

if you want a better see of a update then you make it leaked before arrival.

my 2 cents.

once i whas a beta tester for microsoft. i did get a gift from microsoft (whas nr 27 out of ??? many) but this story ??? i do not believe it.

[ande]

Something promising from infoworld:

Source

[knowledge-Spammer]

osh*t

[NeowinMOD™]

  On 3/20/2014 at 9:28 PM, stylemessiah said:

Never downloaded any Wzor releases, mainly because i dont trust random ISO's from unknown sources, so yeah, couldnt care less.

Brought it on themselves, hard to have any sympathy for them.

I don't trust those either, I don't use crack, patch nor keygen. I buy almost all my apps (when I don't find serial online).

[november_ra1n]

This source news is totaly Rubbish to me WZOR was posting ru-board earlier today:

  Reveal hidden contents

His side maybe taken down and its not the first time happened to him. Last time he post Thursday [03.20.2.14] at 12.23 PM. That guy has arrested Wednesday body. More importantly as far as i know he lives in Russia region, country like this does not arrest their citizen just to make Microsoft happy. I am sure he has been enjoying his vodka by now.: )

Салют WZOR. : )

Edited March 20, 2014 by november_ra1n

[demoneye]

  On 3/20/2014 at 11:08 PM, november_ra1n said:

This source news is totaly Rubbish to me WZOR was posting ru-board earlier today:

  Reveal hidden contents

His side maybe taken down and its not the first time happened to him. Last time he post Thursday [03.20.2.14] at 12.23 PM. That guy has arrested Wednesday body. More importantly as far as i know he lives in Russia region, country like this does not arrest their citizen just to make Microsoft happy. I am sure he has been enjoying his vodka by now.: )

Салют WZOR. : )

i must agree to that , it doesnt make sense that putin will arrest a person who leaked USA software just because the FBI want him.

[mastershake]

any news of any of this over at mydigitallife? i know some of those guys seem to be in pretty good with wzor??

[avinash_44]

But with twitter account deleted,,, very less chance he is gonna make it again,,, oh god,,, I was waiting for win 9 rtm somewhere in oct,,,,,,

and guys who said they didn't download anything from wzor and are on nsaneforum,,,,, ur fooling yourself,,, over half the links here are of leaked iso's from wzor

[DKT27]

This person might be one of the many sources Wzor might be having. However, after this person's arrest, I don't think Wzor will release a lot of things anymore.

[dcs18]

We receive premature releases of new Windows not because of anyone but Microsoft themselves - we shall continue to receive future releases (ahead of time) regardless of Conduits like Alex Kibkalo & Wzor.

Microsoft deliberately leaks Windows before the big release to gain a first hand impression from suckers like ourselves who (unknowingly) beta-test their new offerings.

[Avitar]

  On 3/21/2014 at 10:48 AM, dcs18 said:

We receive premature releases of new Windows not because of anyone but Microsoft themselves - we shall continue to receive future releases (ahead of time) regardless of Conduits like Alex Kibkalo & Wzor.

Microsoft deliberately leaks Windows before the big release to gain a first hand impression from suckers like ourselves who (unknowingly) beta-test their new offerings.

I don't mind being a sucker BETA tester for free.. if I get to keep what I test :p

That's like the best marketing idea ever. Give the nerds a free copy, let them test and make suggestions.. heck even code the apps we want to see integrated into windows! If the nerds are happy, we recommend it to others to buy! The only reason why people accept to learn windows 7 is because the nerds dubbed it "WIN XP done right" Even I learnt how to use 7 because it was user friendly. AS annoying as WIN 8.1U1 is.. I've learnt to live with it...I just customize the hell outta it.

[dcs18]

  On 3/22/2014 at 5:56 PM, Avitar said:

AS annoying as WIN 8.1U1 is.. I've learnt to live with it...I just customize the hell outta it.

Yeah, that's the spirit. :showoff:

[AlienForce1]

  On 3/20/2014 at 11:03 PM, NeowinMOD™ said:

  On 3/20/2014 at 9:28 PM, stylemessiah said:

Never downloaded any Wzor releases, mainly because i dont trust random ISO's from unknown sources, so yeah, couldnt care less.

Brought it on themselves, hard to have any sympathy for them.

I don't trust those either, I don't use crack, patch nor keygen. I buy almost all my apps (when I don't find serial online).

Excuse me , but I don`t understand you ... if that`s the reality , why are you here ?

[dcs18]

  On 3/21/2014 at 10:48 AM, dcs18 said:

We receive premature releases of new Windows not because of anyone but Microsoft themselves - we shall continue to receive future releases (ahead of time) regardless of Conduits like Alex Kibkalo & Wzor.

Microsoft deliberately leaks Windows before the big release to gain a first hand impression from suckers like ourselves who (unknowingly) beta-test their new offerings.

Thank you Microsoft - Windows 8.1 Update is now viral. :rockon: