Ex-Microsoft employee arrested for leaking Windows 8 code

A former Microsoft employee has been arrested and charged with allegedly leaking Windows 8 code to a tech blogger, officials in Seattle said. Software architect Alex Kibkalo was arrested Wednesday and charged with theft of trade secrets, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Thursday. Investigators said Kibkalo, a Russian national who worked in Seattle and in Lebanon for Microsoft, leaked Windows 8 programming code to a French technology blogger he met online in 2012 after he received a poor performance review. Kibkalo allegedly admitted to passing the information to the blogger. Among the stolen information was Microsoft's "Activation Server Software Development Kit," which is used to prevent the unauthorized copying of Microsoft programs. The case was brought to a Seattle-based FBI special agent following an internal corporate investigation. Kibkalo previously claimed to have leaked portions of Windows 7 code before it was released.