TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code

Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code

Associated Press NewsWire (AP@telecom-digest.org)
Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:03:16 -0500

Mon Aug 29,10:38 PM ET

A Connecticut man known on the Internet as "illwill" pleaded guilty in
Manhattan federal court on Monday to charges relating to the theft of
the source code to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software,
considered among the company's crown jewels.

William Genovese Jr., 28, of Meriden, Conn., pleaded guilty charges
related to the unlawful sale and attempted sale of the source code for
Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0. The code had previously
been obtained by other people and unlawfully distributed over the
Internet, prosecutors said.

The source code is the blueprint in which software developers write
computer programs. Access to a software program's source code can
allow someone to replicate the program, and industry experts expressed
concern that hackers reviewing the Microsoft software code could
discover new ways to attack computers running some versions of
Windows.

A federal indictment filed against Genovese in February 2004, charged
that the day Microsoft learned significant portions of its source code
were stolen Genovese posted a message on his Web site offering the
code for sale.

Genovese was arrested when an investigator for an online security
company hired by Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent downloaded the
stolen source code from his Web site after sending him electronic
payments for it, Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley said in a news
release.

Genovese faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine when he is sentenced in the fall.

There was no published telephone listing for Genovese in Meriden,
Conn. and prosecutors did not return a call seeking information about
his attorney.

Microsoft had previously shared parts of its source code with some
companies, U.S. agencies, foreign governments and universities under
tight restrictions that prevented them from making it publicly
available.

A Microsoft spokesman said in February that the company was confident
the Windows blueprints weren't stolen from its own computer network.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company did not immediately return a message
Monday seeking comment.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

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