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.

The reason this is an issue

[volkerdi]

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.

Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft?

[morgan_greywolf]

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)

He was also deported quite quickly

[DNS-and-BIND]

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 [washingtontimes.com]. You can fill in the [name omitted] yourself - go ahead and guess.

Re:why do the russians need to spy on microsoft?

[Culture20]

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?

No Secret Smirnoff

[sgt_doom]

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....