Alex Kibkalo, an ex-Microsoft employee has been arrested for stealing and leaking company secrets while working for Microsoft, according to Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Kibkalo was arrested on Wednesday and is charged for stealing and leaking Windows 8 trade secrets to a French tech blogger. He has reportedly attempted this as a revenge against Microsoft for receiving a poor performance review.
The investigations revealed that he uploaded proprietary software including pre-release software updates for WIndows 8 RT and ARM devices, as well as the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit (SDK) to a computer in Redmond, Washington and then to his personal Windows Live SkyDrive account. The link to his personal account was then provided to the blogger. The blogger is known for posting pre-release Windows screenshots.
All these came out when the blogger sent out the Windows 8 code received from Kibkalo to a Microsoft employee to verify, in September 2012. Seeing the authenticity of the code, the investigators searched the blogger’s Hotmail account and instant messenger and found emails and chat messages supporting the leaks from Kibkalo. In one of the conversations with the blogger, Kibkalo even claimed to have sneaked into a Microsoft’s building to copy a server. He also claimed to have leaked large portions of Windows 7 before release.
SOURCE: Seattle PI
