A former Microsoft employee is facing criminal charges after he allegedly passed trade secrets to a blogger in France. Russian national Alex Kibkalo, a former Microsoft employee in Lebanon and Russia, admitted to Microsoft investigators that he provided confidential company documents and information to the blogger, documents from a Seattle federal court showed.
A former Microsoft employee has been arrested in Seattle, accused of leaking Windows 8 to a tech blogger. Alex Kibkalo, once a software architect for the Redmond, Washington-based company, sent the French blogger parts of Windows 8 code, as well as the kit required to activate the software, according to the charging papers. The blogger then posted screenshots of the unreleased software online. Although the blogger only posted screenshots of Windows 8 (which spread widely online), Kibkalo also stands accused of encouraging them to post the activation kit, a key part of Microsft’s anti-piracy system.
