After allegedly passing Microsoft Corp. trade secrets to a blogger in France, a former employee of the company is facing criminal charges, U.S. court documents showed.
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.
Known to those in the Microsoft blogging community for posting screenshots of pre-release version of the Windows Operating System, the blogger has not been identified. According to the documents, the blogger hid his identity and falsely stated that he was from Quebec.
An internal investigation by Microsoft revealed unauthorized transmissions of proprietary and confidential trade secrets, according to the court documents.
According to Reuters, an email from Kibkalo was found within the blogger's Hotmail account, establishing that he shared confidential data.
"We take protection of our intellectual property very seriously, including cooperating with law-enforcement agencies who are investigating potential criminal actions by our employees or others," a Microsoft spokesman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
A lawyer representing Kibkalo could not be reached for comment immediately outside regular U.S. business hours, Reuters reported.
The blogger admitted during interviews to posting information on Twitter and his websites, the court documents said. He also sold Windows Server activation keys on eBay.
"According to Microsoft's investigation, in July and August 2012, Kibkalo uploaded proprietary software including pre-release software updates of Windows 8 RT and ARM devices, as well as the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit (SDK) to a computer in Washington and subsequently to his personal Windows Live SkyDrive account," Reuters reported.
To ensure proper validation in the product key activation process, Microsoft product teams used the SDK in customizing their product code.
Kibkalo, who worked with Microsoft for seven years, received a poor performance review in 2012 and threatened to resign if the review was not amended, the documents showed.
Kibkalo has relocated to Russia and based on a LinkedIn account, he is currently working for another U.S. based technology company with offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to an FBI agent who was part of the investigation.
