Microsoft claims Hotmail hack was justified
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 03/21/2014 03:04 PM
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Microsoft admits that they broke into a blogger's Hotmail account after they learned of a potentially damaging leak of sensitive software which had been passed from an employee to the blogger.
Company investigators entered the blogger's Hotmail account, then pored over emails and instant messages on Windows Live. The internal investigation led to the arrest on Wednesday of Alex Kibkalo, a former Microsoft employee based in Lebanon.
John Frank, Deputy General Counsel & Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs for Microsoft explains their side of the issue in a blog post; we took extraordinary actions based on the specific circumstances. We received information that indicated an employee was providing stolen intellectual property, including code relating to our activation process, to a third party who, in turn, had a history of trafficking for profit in this type of material. In order to protect our customers and the security and integrity of our products, we conducted an investigation over many months with law enforcement agencies in multiple countries. This included the issuance of a court order for the search of a home relating to evidence of the criminal acts involved. The investigation repeatedly identified clear evidence that the third party involved intended to sell Microsoft IP and had done so in the past.
Courts do not, however, issue orders authorizing someone to search themselves, since obviously no such order is needed. So even when we believe we have probable cause, there’s not an applicable court process for an investigation such as this one relating to the information stored on servers located on our own premises.
While our actions were within our policies and applicable law in this previous case, we understand the concerns that people have. Therefore, we are announcing steps that will add to and continue to strengthen further our policies in any future situations involving our customers.
Company investigators entered the blogger's Hotmail account, then pored over emails and instant messages on Windows Live. The internal investigation led to the arrest on Wednesday of Alex Kibkalo, a former Microsoft employee based in Lebanon.
John Frank, Deputy General Counsel & Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs for Microsoft explains their side of the issue in a blog post; we took extraordinary actions based on the specific circumstances. We received information that indicated an employee was providing stolen intellectual property, including code relating to our activation process, to a third party who, in turn, had a history of trafficking for profit in this type of material. In order to protect our customers and the security and integrity of our products, we conducted an investigation over many months with law enforcement agencies in multiple countries. This included the issuance of a court order for the search of a home relating to evidence of the criminal acts involved. The investigation repeatedly identified clear evidence that the third party involved intended to sell Microsoft IP and had done so in the past.
Courts do not, however, issue orders authorizing someone to search themselves, since obviously no such order is needed. So even when we believe we have probable cause, there’s not an applicable court process for an investigation such as this one relating to the information stored on servers located on our own premises.
While our actions were within our policies and applicable law in this previous case, we understand the concerns that people have. Therefore, we are announcing steps that will add to and continue to strengthen further our policies in any future situations involving our customers.
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