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Microsoft Puts Stop To Hacker

Stealing is never the neither smartest, nor best way, to make money. Especially when the company you are stealing from is quite possibly one of the most powerful businesses in the world. One man is feeling the wrath of Microsoft, as he will be spending the next few years of his life sitting in prison, and rightfully so. Selling Microsoft`s source code on the Internet will cost a Connecticut man two years in prison. William Genovese Jr., 29, of Meriden, Conn., will also face three years of supervised probation when released from prison. Genovese was charged with one count of unlawfully distributing a trade secret in violation of the Economic Espionage Act.

According to federal prosecutors, Microsoft learned significant portions of the source code for both Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 were stolen and released on the Internet on or about Feb. 12, 2004. That same day, Genovese posted a message on his Web site announcing he had obtained a copy of the stolen source code and was offering the code for sale. Over the course of several e-mail exchanges, an investigator hired by Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent bought the code for $20. Genovese was arrested on Nov. 9, 2004, and ultimately pleaded guilty in August of last year. He is scheduled to begin his prison term on March 14.

The source code for the popular operating system was originally discovered through Internet channels when a tip sheet site revealed the code was available on the Internet. The news touched off a firestorm of downloads from curious developers and end-users alike, appearing on BitTorrent forums and IRC channels around the world. It was originally thought the code would unleash a new wave of zero-day attacks on the Windows NT and 2000 platforms, since malware writers would have access to the underlying code behind the systems. But security experts downplayed the effect of the leak.