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Deported Russian (Spy?) Worked At Microsoft
subtropolis writes "KOMO News in Seattle is reporting that a recently-deported 23-yr-old Russian man 'appears to have ties to the recently-exposed Russian counterintelligence' (according to unnamed Feds). The article states that he admitted to unspecified immigration violations and was promptly shown the door on Tuesday. It also says that 'Microsoft confirms Karetnikov worked as an entry-level software tester for less than a year.' So, I'm thinking that MS had better take a really good at their logs for that time. He may have got in at 'entry-level' but his abilities may have been a fair bit beyond that. ... Interestingly, his admission to mere 'violations' and swift departure would be right in line with how this swap has gone down. The four Russians who were flown to Britain and the US had to first sign a confession before President Medvedev granted them pardons." The same news is at CBS News, too.
In Soviet Russia, Microsoft spies on you!
Aurora, anyone?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
microsoft has freely given its source code to the kgb (rolls eyes):
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/09/0042238/Microsoft-Opens-Source-Code-To-KGBs-Successor-Agency
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Wouldn't that be something if you could rootkit a master ISO for M$'s Windows retail disk.
It would explain so much...
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I guess it's official -- Microsoft IS spyware!
Is because Microsoft's source is closed, and a spy might have a chance to find a hole in the source code that's not obvious without the source code, or possibly would have a chance to plant something in the code. On the other hand, spies are welcome to contribute to open source. They won't be able to slip much past the massive peer review.
"So, I'm thinking that MS had better take a really good at their logs for that time."
He stole that word (I assume it was "look") from right under your nose! We are in some serious trouble!
Dang my boyfriend is Rissian-Nigerian and I need to do a background check on him. I gave him a lot of my money and bought computers for him. Anyone knows a PI?
I think the brown zune was clear proof that counter-intelligence is often found in Microsoft.
You've stumbled across a Russian Spy near Redmond!
Welcome to the new world of modern espionage. In a world where countries are less worried about invading each other than preserving and succeeding in a stable international economic market, your spies are going to be mostly industrial in nature. Who doesn't think that the CIA is out there trying to figure out what other countries are stealing from our corporations or what we can steal from somebody else's? My real wonder is how we would introduce that knowledge into our side if we got it as it would be a large potential PR blow up. Countries spying on each others military secrets is almost expected, but countries spying on other countries corporate interests so they can turn such knowledge over to their own corporate interests might actually mean war.
OMG AM I A SPY?
Really, absent evidence that he stole something, is this news in any way? He was on American soil for ten years, maybe he hacked into America's weapons arsenals too?
You know people stopped caring about privacy when even spies put their details on Facebook.
Depends, are you good at taking out heavies and sapping turrets?
The MS spy has a counterpart at Apple too. He's doing the same kind of spying, only he's more smug and pretentious about it.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The four Russians who were flown to Britain and the US had to first sign a confession before President Medvedev granted them pardons.
It's hard to pardon somebody when they've admitted no wrongdoing.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Just what will they do with the source for Bob?
microsoft has freely given its source code to the kgb (rolls eyes):
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/07/09/0042238/Microsoft-Opens-Source-Code-To-KGBs-Successor-Agency
It's not just governments. Microsoft gives some college faculty and students complete access to Windows source code. They have to be part of a research team doing something Microsoft finds interesting, sign NDAs, etc. Microsoft gets access to their work but there are no restrictions on publishing their research. A friend was on such a team when he was a grad student.
He should have been more careful with putting "Spying @ Microsoft" as his occupation on Facebook
...it was a Russian plot.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
At one point in time, Iraq DID have WMDs. We know this for a fact, because they were bought from the US. They were used against Iran, and this is well documented. Saddam also had a vested interest in projecting the illusion he had WMDs currently, to ensure his status as a regional player. Iran may very well have decided to seek some revenge, if they knew Iraq was basically defenseless. That explains his brazen attitude and actions leading up to the invasion (Saddam's, not Bush's... I'm still trying to figure that one out). It's really not quite as clear-cut as either side of the domestic political debate would like us to believe.
The man in the story was deported quickly, too quickly for intelligence services to wring him dry. When spies like him get caught, you need to do a thorough damage assessment, to find out exactly what they knew and how they got the information in the first place. If he penetrated Microsoft, we needed to know everything about it, what he got, how he got it, and who gave it to him. Why so fast? "the prospect of a public trial revealing embarrassing facts about Russian influence operations, like the targeting of a key Democratic Party financier close to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton." The [FBI's] criminal complaint stated that in February 2009 a New Jersey-based Russian, who posed as Cynthia Murphy and was later identified as SVR officer Lydia Guryev, met several times with a "prominent New York-based financier" who was active in politics and a "active fundraiser" for a "major political party, name omitted." He also was described as a "personal friend of [a current Cabinet official, name omitted]." Source. You can fill in the [name omitted] yourself - go ahead and guess.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's really not quite as clear-cut as either side of the domestic political debate would like us to believe.
When two separate UN WMD teams went in and found nothing, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When we gave these UN teams specific locations to search, because we "knew" Saddam had those weapons, and found nothing, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When the documents from Niger were shown to be an out-and-out fabrication which came from a known purveyor of such documents, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When a CIA NOC agent was outed because her husband happened to be the one who discovered the Niger documents were forgeries, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When the aluminum tubes, which were supposedly for uranium processing, were found to be for the creation of short range rockets, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When those mobile weapons labs were identified by British sources as being used to create hydrogen for mobile weather stations, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When the only evidence we had for Saddam possibly having the ability to make weapons came from a known drunk and liar, who we were never allowed to interview but had to have his confession transcribed, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Because we should always trust the observations of people who say "He may have got in". There's a better way, my friend.
Nuclear weapons "evidence" was clearly B.S., however he is known to have chemical and biological weapons. He stated not to have nuclear weapons, but beat around the bush on the chem and bio weapons, and played a pseudo-shell game with inspectors, largely to keep up appearances with his neighbors. I am by no means a supporter of the Iraq war. I've lost enough friends to it not to have any romantic notions that we went in for the "right reasons" when the war was sold to us. However, it's not as if Saddam was a nice guy who was open about his intentions and gave full, un-fettered access to inspectors and/or journalists to prove he didn't have any weapons or weapons programs.
post anon as I moderated
Not anymore you didn't, unless you moved to a new IP.
Slashdot just doesn't tell you that you're undoing your mods when you check the anonymous coward box.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Maybe Microsoft has tightened security in the last few years, but I doubt it. The network is pretty wide open and it isn't run like some sort of movie company with real security. A smart enough guy would be able to get in and do what ever they wanted. People routinely work at all hours and leave their computers running in offices with open doors. Screen savers aren't always password protected.
So, if he was trying to put something into windows, then it s probably there
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/microsoft-turns-over-all-win7-and-server-source-code-to-russias-new-kgb/9191 So they already have the source code for W7, they probably need someone inside of msft so that bugs they find in the code will get fixed...
It should only affect the Russian version of Windows.
The only secret this tovarisch picked up was free yogurt, softdrinks and coffee at MS....
You can take a /. troll out of his mother's basement... Oh wait, you can't.
They evidently heard of the infamous "Uncle Bob" interface written by Mrs. Microsoft (Melissa French Gates), and had to have it......
No, you're a sleeper. Get back to work.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
This just goes to show you that bill gates is a traitor and he needs to immediately resign from m$, discontinue the Xbox360, and put balmer is a padded cell.
Charges:
Consorting with Russian spies
General espionage and cyber terror of PC's around the world.
Evidence
This article
the "RED" ring on death on the xbox 360... did i mention that it was RED!!!!! For those of you who dont know, red is the color for commies long before it was "Assigned" to US republicans.
Now assuming this dude really was a spy as opposed to someone who was just hanging out with spies then why are you assuming his job at MS was anything but a cover?
It does not make sense to have your deep cover operative do his deep cover work at a place where he is known (well as known as an office drone can be).
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
[...] worked as an entry-level software tester [...] I'm thinking that MS had better take a really good [look] at their logs for that time.
Wow, thinking is hard, huh.
Nobody is arguing that Saddam was a decent guy, just that going in was a really bad mistake.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
He convinced Russia to use insecure version of MSFT-OS all over Russia so the NSA could easily crack their computers, not to mention 8-year old computer geeks.
Oh, yes, it was quite obvious.
When Saddam decided he was going to publicly sympathize with the Taliban post-9/11, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Saddam decided to up the payout to suicide bomber's families that attacked Israel post 9/11, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Saddam decided to play shell games with the UNSC resolutions, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When European and Russian contractors were found selling dual use and prohibited items, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Europe decided to the throw a colossal hissy fit over the end of food for oil, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Europe was no longer calling for action of the humanitarian crisis being caused by food for oil, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Europe then wanted to claim that the dual use items were broken, defective, etc., that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When American liberals seized on the opportunity to finally be mad at Bush again for losing what they felt was a stolen election, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When everyone in the world and especially at the UN who previously didn't trust Saddam, started to say he's not so bad, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When Osama Bin Laden was ranting a raving about American air bases in holy land (Saudi Arabia), the same bases being used to police no fly zones in Iraq, and people were trying to downplay the Ba'athist's intelligence agency's comfort with consorting with the pre-cursor to Al Qaeda - Egyptian Islamic Jihad, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
When a post-war inspection team took 18 months to scour a defeated Iraq, which I like to call "Iraq and Saddam at their most cooperative", only then were they able to confirm that their were no weapons and that Saddam only had breakout capacity for bio/chemical weapons, that should have been a tip off that something wasn't right.
---
Seriously. Responsible adults had to take the information they had at the time, and make a decision. I continue to agree that keeping the Ba'athist around, trusting bitter partisan enemies of the US administration, trusting UNSC nations that were financially hurt by the end of the food for oil program, and keeping a tentative situation of sanctions and containment, we're exactly top priority.
It may be true that the second war fomented terrorism. However, it is absolutely true that the Ba'athist containment/sanction process as agreed upon by the UN fomented terrorism at the expense of US security.
No.
Ah... now here's someone who has been paying attention
Obviously, the Russians were after something other than the Windows source code. Microsoft does a lot more than Windows; maybe this had to do with Office, Microsoft's online service offerings, Exchange Server, SQL Server etc. You know, stuff that wouldn't be in the WIndows 7 source code (bear in mind that Windows 7 is a client OS)
Or more likely, business strategy, research & development direction, or contract bid pricing. Only a geek would assume he was in it for teh codez.
.
Your ideas intrigue me, how do I subscribe to your news letter?
:q! Oh crap, not again...
However, it is absolutely true that the Ba'athist containment/sanction process as agreed upon by the UN fomented terrorism at the expense of US security.
Nobody's arguing that. We are, however arguing that a) that didn't amount to a hill of beans, and b) boy, was that ever the mother of overreactions.
There's also the corollary argument that if the US (and other western countries) weren't so enamored with fucking around with these dipshit little countries in the first place, many of these problems simply wouldn't exist in the first place.
Congrats on being technically correct and absolutely useless.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
"microsoft has freely given its source code to the kgb (rolls eyes):" - by circletimessquare (444983) > on Wednesday July 14, @02:51PM (#32904620) Homepage
Per my subject-line above: IF the Russians wanted to know the "ins-N-outs" of Windows code, in ANY version, they would do the same as guys like Dr. Mark Russinovich did prior to his actually working for Microsoft (while he was the co-coder for SysInternals/Winternals, alongside Bryce Cogswell) - they'd disassemble/debug it, & have their answers. From what I understand, Mark Russinovich did all he did figuring out the "Native Mode NT code" via this method and using what's provided in the Microsoft DDK (Device Driver Kit).
Sure, this'd take more time than having actual sourcecode in the language it's written in (for kernel level stuff, that'd be C &/or Assembly language (which is what the debug trace dumps would yield in the latter anyhow), & the rest of the OS in usermode would most likely be a lot of C++)), but the results would be the same anyhow...
Guys - it's NOT like the russians don't have the kind of coding talent necessary (far from it) for that to happen... & again, it'd only be a matter of time is all.
APK
P.S.=> I used to try to "obfuscate" code I wrote, & also use executable compressors too, to make this harder on others attempting to do this, but I soon found out "what's the point"? See, those same "reverse engineers" developed unpackers to stop that method of trying to "slow down" those trying to get at what your code's doing (e.g.-> Shrinker is now broken & can be "unshrunk", as a single example thereof, & it only took about 1.5 yrs. for such a tool like UnShrink to appear publicly online) too!
PLUS, you can always peer into that app's memory space via it's hWnd address in RAM, & see what's going on as well rather than toying with the .exe file on disk to get your answers also (Dr. Mark Russinovich's "Process Explorer" will do this very thing for you in fact as one of its options, for example)... apk
Only it turned out that Saddam, against all expectations, actually did fear repercussions and had all his WMD destroyed. Who'd have thought it! Certain no-one who wanted to trouble themselves with proof, when they *knew* the answer they wanted already.
Did anybody think to open the control panel and search the Espionage Viewer? Oh Damn! Somebody rebooted!
A Russian spy getting access to Microsoft's secrets might be a real boon to America. Perhaps we will learn what goes on there as well as if our government plays games with the OSs offered for sale. What better tool to spy upon people than their own operating system?
So THAT explains it!
[Insert pithy quote here]
Who doesn't think that the CIA is out there trying to figure out what other countries are stealing from our corporations or what we can steal from somebody else's?
Perhaps they are doing the first thing. But the second?
Who would the CIA tell? Would they just go to some random company and say "have some cool tech we just discovered"?
Government spying agencies being more along the lines of industrial espionage make more sense when you have industries that are more governmental entities than private companies.
Although we do have GM now... hmm.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It's not an out-and-out conspiracy like the tinfoilers of HAARP, Bilderberg, aliens, UFOs, etc would have you believe
Everything else you said is more or less correct, except that mind control and "aliens" are indeed also part of the mix. Anybody who bothers to research the issue will figure that one out quickly enough -if their minds are strong enough to conduct that much current without their breaker circuits popping.
Crop Circles made with planks and ropes wouldn't display any of the true oddities observed in the fields. You know; things like like magnetic seeds. It's astonishing that when such evidence is dumped right in front of the world, most people are capable of tuning it out.
The population isn't mind controlled? Oh, really?
-FL
bing is a case of kgb industrial sabotage?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
What does it matter if he was or wasn't a spy and was working at Microsoft? Do people actually believe that Microsoft software is in any way secure? It's rather easy to install a key logger remotely on a Windows machine, so easy in fact there is no reason to actually consider Microsoft is in any way secure.
Am I wrong or does the EULA basically say that nothing that Microsoft holds no responsibility for any actions that the operating system does. Furthermore, don't they basically advertise the fact that the system isn't secure in the first place and "suggest" you install third party software in order to try to prevent common worms and viruses?
So why in the world would someone more or less, no matter what their nationality, make me any more or less comfortable about the basic operating system in the first place?
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
These stories are going to influence many Russians working abroad and who has nothing to do with an espionage.
Reputation of being from Eastern Europe is not a joke in itself. It is no surprise and in a way deserved since indeed there are a lot of criminals and vagabonds, who moved to the West and are noticeable. By the way, we also do not like the same criminals at the East ourselves.
But now after these spy stories people are just scared and confused when they hear a Russian name in a business context. Seeing and feeling it many Russians are going probably to decide to return back to Russia. Why not, if a "glass ceiling" moves lower and there is no future at the West for them?
In a rich and developed country the departure of several thousand Russian specialists probably will not be even noticeable for the economy, but for Russian economy the arrival of these thousands of specialists with real experience of Western companies would be a major event.
It is not "secrets" what are important, sometimes it is just setting a company website, e-mail system. They will bring with them understanding, habits and know-hows and will influence their new companies.
Of course it's fucking clear-cut. The US *lied* about the WMDs they claimed Saddam had. They straight-up lied. They knew the chemical weapons the US had sold Saddam were well past their shelf-life, and were useless. They then made up all that "they can attack us in 45-minutes" bullshit in order to go in. Saddam's "brazen" attitude? Care to tell us what that was? He was no different to many leaders around the world, and yet got singled out. And lo-and-behold, no WMDs. None. Just lots of intelligence that the WMD program ceased after the US withdrew its support (something that wasn't exactly a secret). The US made Saddam, then proceeded to make him what he was, then ultimately had him killed. Lovely.
Don't bother bringing logic to a stupidity fight. People who still think Saddam had it coming are assholes. Nothing he did couldn't have been worked out diplomatically. Nothing. But then where's the sport in that, when it's much easier to press a button and unleash hell upon a former ally.
Please note that they seem to have gotten that news 2 weeks after the Washington Post reported it:
Best Slashdot Co
Nobody's arguing that. We are, however arguing that a) that didn't amount to a hill of beans, and b) boy, was that ever the mother of overreactions.
So you are arguing it...
a) Embassies, WTC, Cole, WTC again, Pentagon b) I guess relying on smart weapons was the proper continued reaction in your mind. You're of course welcome to your opinion...however, conversely, I wouldn't trust you to walk my dog down the street.
There's also the corollary argument that if the US (and other western countries) weren't so enamored with fucking around with these dipshit little countries in the first place, many of these problems simply wouldn't exist in the first place.
Perhaps.
Congrats on being technically correct and absolutely useless.
If I knew what this meant, I would respond.
No.
a) Embassies, WTC, Cole, WTC again, Pentagon
Silly me, I thought we were talking about Iraq!
I know, I know, don't feed the trolls...
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
These two points are inconclusive. You are a dictator who lost a war to a foreign country. That same country is actively pursuing its interests in your area. People from your area attack that country. You do not sympathize with them? You HAVE TO, in front of the domestic audience, while being careful not to appear officially responsible in front of the rest of the world.
Well, I guess by that logic, if you are in the business of sending messages to a domestic audience YOU HAVE to do what YOU HAVE to do.
I'll await your implication that we should be smarter than that...
No.
Weird. Modded down to -1? Wow. What did I say to inspire that kind of response? Curious. Usually I can predict when people are going to get upset by the things I write, so I have to say, this kind of surprises me. Are people truly THAT offended by the idea of somebody laughing at a poorly executed bit of made-up spy drama? I don't get it.
Ah well. Here's a repost...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a circus event.
You can tell because the idea of the "Russian Spy" and the "Cold War 2.0" has been seeded into our population for the last year through film and television. It's a total con job.
And anyway, reporting spy craft with such bells and whistles is idiotic. It's only done to sculpt public awareness. And if you look at these so-called, "Spies", (the list of their crimes is idiotic at best), you'll note that, actually, the only spy craft going on is that of American COINTELPRO style bullshit misdirection aimed squarely at the public.
I mean, these "spies" were not actually charged with espionage but rather with, "failing to register as agents of a foreign government." That is, they were accused of "trying to seek out and develop ties and friendships in policy circles of the United States and send back reports." (Um, you mean, like what diplomats and businessmen do every day in capital cities all over the world?)
One set of charges was brought against Vicky Pelaez, an American columnist for the Spanish-language El Diario newspaper for more than 20 years. Was she even aware that her husband of 30 years was a Russian spy? It's interesting that her 'political' activities mark her out as an 'enemy of the state' in the US these days:
In her column, Vicky Pelaez discusses social issues and has taken a stand as a supporter of socialist governments in Latin America, including Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, and against the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her articles also advocate for the rights of Indigenous peoples and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. while criticizing the foreign policies of the U.S. in Latin America.
Because of her political ideas and activism, most of Pelaez friends and supporters believe that she is the subject of political persecution, that she is completely innocent.
Another one of the arrested individuals, Anna Chapman, was said to have "met with an individual purporting to be a Russian Government official in Manhattan, New York, at which she received a fraudulent passport," according to the official criminal report.
Chapman, however, immediately went to the local police and gave them the passport.
CNN reported that Chapman never "fulfilled the mission" of delivering the fraudulent passport that the undercover FBI agent gave to her.
Set 'em up and knock 'em down. And passports and microfilm? This was designed for public consumption, and not just any public, but a really dumbed down public only capable of understanding spy dramas as per the Disney version.
So the question is this. . .
What is REALLY going on? What is this supposed to achieve? How would increased tensions between the old cold war super-powers benefit the elite?
I guess we'll just have to wait and see, (because people are obviously too far gone as a society to not fall for this kind of silly tactic.)
-FL
Hmm! Microsoft has nothing worth stealing unless they wanted the QuickBasic source to Bob.