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Deported Russian (Spy?) Worked At Microsoft

Posted by timothy on from the sure-why-not dept.

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.

22 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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)

      --
      My blog
    2. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's pretty easy to look at the public details of these ops from today's vantage point and go "that's stupid," but remember when these ops were first started the world was different. Dramatically different in the case of the spies which had been here 10 or 20 years, although not so much in this case. It's only been a year. But a year ago, the FSB didn't have a contract with Microsoft for the source code, and so access to that was worth a little more.

      When some of the 10 spies that were deported recently were originally placed here, we didn't live with the constant flood of information that we do today. It wasn't as easy as going to washingtonpost.com or reading someone's blog to find out what was going on in the debate on certain issues. You had to wait, for news broadcasts or to get hold of a copy of a paper. Having someone get to know an individual who was an insider and to innocently ask some questions every now and then could actually pay dividends. And once an agency has already invested time and money training operatives, creating their legends and getting them into place, they're not going to just pull them out. They might be useful for something else later. This is type of work is like a marathon, not a sprint.

    3. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      With the same kernel as 2008 Server R2.

      Absolutely. But SQL Server, Exchange Server, ConnectPoint, IIS, etc., would all be considered not part of the Windows 7 source code, yes?

      --
      My blog
    4. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by Locutus · · Score: 3, Funny

      They don't, but he must have figured out that if he was working for a counter intelligence ring then working at Microsoft where everything runs counter to intelligence is the perfect hiding place.

      Remember, the ads for BING are all about there being too many links. You know, links, the things offered to you based on the search criteria you entered. Somehow, fewer links are better. And let's not forget the pretty background which makes you feel happy to see so few responses to your query.

      LoB

      --
      "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
    5. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Speaking of paying attention, has he actually been formally accused of anything beyond immigration violations?

      The story seems awfully speculative. Good on the feds for doing their diligence, but as far as I can tell, there's no hard evidence linking him to anything.

      --
      -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
    6. Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft? by Culture20 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not all spy work is intelligence gathering. Sometimes it is guidance, carefully maneuvering targets to do things. Who did he go drinking with after work from MS? Who could he have influenced? Sometimes spy work is assassination. Did anyone go missing?

  2. Worked for M$? by koan · · Score: 3, Funny

    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."
    1. Re:Worked for M$? by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bug #12512523512
      Issue: Windows does not have Russian rootkit installed
      Status: Critical

      Steps to Reproduce:
      1) Install Windows
      2) KGB unable to access Windows remotely with secret password
      3)
      ---
      Reply: Thank you for your feedback, we believe the latest build fixes your problem!

      Status: FIXED

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  3. What we all suspected is true! by Eberlin · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess it's official -- Microsoft IS spyware!

    1. Re:What we all suspected is true! by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Odd, I found this in my task manager...

      Image Name | Username | CPU | Memory | Description
      rpt2kgb.exe| System . . .| 3 . . . | 13,900k | For the Motherland

      I guess I just never noticed it before now.

  4. The reason this is an issue by volkerdi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  5. Oh no, it's starting! by jeffmeden · · Score: 2, Funny

    "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!

  6. Modern Spying by painandgreed · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Modern Spying by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      i've seen news specials about this 20 years ago after the wall first fell. as soon as the warsaw pact fell apart the french and some of our allies started spying on us

      Did they ever stop?

      I've always assumed that every country spies on every other country, at least to some minimal extent.

      Obviously, if you're the US, you don't commit a *lot* of resources to spying on, say, Canada. But there'd be at least a small team responsible. And in that Canadian Bacon movie, all the dirt they dug up on Canada came in handy.

      --
      Comment of the year
    2. Re:Modern Spying by ducomputergeek · · Score: 2, Informative

      French intelligence, DGSE, is the only one that I know to admit that about 25% of their budget is for corporate espionage.

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  7. Re:Worked as an Entry Level Tester at Microsoft... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depends, are you good at taking out heavies and sapping turrets?

  8. College faculty and students have access too by perpenso · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  9. He was also deported quite quickly by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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!
  10. Re:He's not alone by bwintx · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

    Fortunately, the Apple spy doesn't hold his phone correctly, so he can't tell Moscow what he's learned. Whew.

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  11. What more do they want ? by cheap.computer · · Score: 2, Funny

    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...

  12. No Secret Smirnoff by sgt_doom · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Exactly! Evidently everyone has forgotten that no too long ago Micro$oft opened up their Windows source code to the Peoples Republic of China, a k a the Totalitarian Fascist State, etc.

    The only secret this tovarisch picked up was free yogurt, softdrinks and coffee at MS....