One of the biggest stories earlier this month was the revelation that the Microsoft Employee who supplied Windows 8 builds to leakers had been arrested for stealing Windows-related trade secrets. Now, that man has pleaded guilty in a court of law.
Earlier today in a US District Court in Seattle, Alex Kibkalo, the former Senior Architect at Microsoft during the time of Windows 8’s development, pleaded guilty to accusations of stealing Microsoft trade secrets. Kibkalo and federal prosecutors reached an agreement in which prosecutors are recommending a 3 month prison sentence as well as a payment of $22,500 in restitution to Microsoft.
Here’s a little back story for those who are not aware of what happened. Windows 8 was known as the first operating system in which had a very strict NDA during it’s development phase. Not only did Kibkalo leak Windows 8 information, but also supplied the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit, which can be used to reverse engineer and crack the Activation process within Windows. Kibkalo gave the leaker access to virtual machines with pre-release builds of Windows 8 on them, as well as supplying download links to Windows 8 RT software.
Kibkalo is a Russian national who worked for Microsoft in Lebanon. He was arrested last month for giving sensitive information to an unidentified tech blogger in France. Sentencing is scheduled for 9AM on July 1st.