Former Microsoft employee recently arrested for leaking Windows data, pleads guilty, sentenced to prison

You may remember reading a few months ago about a former Microsoft employee, Alex Kibkalo, who was arrested for not only breaking into Microsoft’s Redmond campus, but also leaking details Windows 7, Window 8, and Windows RT, along with source code to Microsoft’s Activation Server Software Development Kit.

After leaking this data to a French technology blogger, the blogger attempted to confirm the authenticity of the code and that query eventually made it to a Microsoft executive in Washington.

The result was an investigation by law enforcement and Microsoft of the chain of communication between the blogger and Kibkalo which then saw Kibkalo arrested in Seattle. Kibkalo ended up pleading guilty for the theft of trade secrets in the federal court and he was sentenced to three months in prison and a $100 fine.

That may sound like a bit of a light sentence, but the judge was no doubt influenced by a hand-written note Kibkalo wrote to the judge presiding over the case expressing remorse for his actions along with plans of what he intends to do once he has paid his debt to society.

source: Ars Technica