Ex-Microsoft Employee Arrested For Leaking Windows 8 Builds And Trade Secrets

Alex Kibkalo was arrested by FBI recently. He is an ex-Microsoft employee and the reason he was arrested was pretty simple, he was the one who leaked pre-release Windows 8 builds to a blogger in 2012. He is now facing federal criminal charges following a allegations that he stole trade secrets. He was also the person who leaked “Activation Server Software Development Kit,” a propriety system that is used by Microsoft and its OEN partners to prevent the unauthorized copying of Microsoft programs.

Here’s how they caught him,

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.

Given that he speaks French/Russian, I don’t think it’s too hard to guess the blogger who he was leaking too!

Read more at Seattle PI.