14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft leaker Alex Kibkalo has made the headlines lately after being arrested for posting Windows builds online with the help of a French blogger, and it appears that a US court has finally decided his sentence.
Myce.com is reporting via Russian media outlets that Kibkalo will spend the next three months in prison, after being found guilty of leaking confidential information and violating intellectual property belonging to Microsoft.
He uploaded preview versions of Windows 8 and Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit (SDK), while also uploading files and information about these projects on his SkyDrive. A French blogger used information he received not only to upload screenshots on websites, but also to share Windows Server activations keys online.
Kibkalo was arrested by the FBI in March this year, with initial reports claiming that he uploaded Windows 7 and Windows 8 copies to his personal cloud-based storage account.
According to a report first published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who received more information from Microsoft's investigation, Kibkalo worked for Redmond for a total of 7 years, during which 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 subsequently to his personal Windows Live SkyDrive account.”
FBI's investigation revealed quite a lot of incriminating details proving that Kibkalo was indeed behind several leaks that reached the web in the last couple of years.
Conversation between Kibkalo and the French blogger revealed that he was well aware of the illegal activities he was about to do.
The identity of the French blogger, on the other hand, is yet to be discovered, as Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Investigations, one of the teams that were formed to investigate this case, couldn't find too many details to track him down.
The group, however, discovered a Hotmail account that has been used to communicate with Kibkalo, again containing evidence that the former Microsoft employee was behind the leaks. The blogger used several tactics to hide his identity and used an IP based in Quebec to block Microsoft officials from finding his location.
Microsoft is yet to issue a statement on this, but we've reached out to the company and we’ll update the article as soon as we get an answer.
In the meantime, the number of Windows leaks reaching the web has dropped significantly, so it's pretty clear that Microsoft managed with just one arrest to tackle this issue for a very long time.