Quote from Timothy Fitzpatrick on June 3, 2025, 23:20

NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, Oct. 28, 2000

REDMOND, Wash. (UPI) – The valuable source codes for Microsoft's most popular software programs may have been copied by Russian hackers, the company said Friday.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters at a speaking engagement in Stockholm that the intruders had gotten at least a look at the codes but that the codes had not been damaged or altered, British Broadcasting Corp. said.

"It is clear that hackers did see some of our source code," said Ballmer. "I can assure you that we know there has been no compromise of the integrity of the source code."

The FBI has been called in to investigate the code perusal by the hackers.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Friday that Microsoft employees this week discovered that the company's files had been broken into after it was noticed that passwords for transferring the code were being sent to an e-mail account in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The newspaper said that while the identities of the hackers were not known, they could have had access to the codes – considered blueprints to Microsoft's best sellers – for up to three months. A company spokesman told the Post-Intelligencer that there was no evidence that the source code had been modified, although the files may have been copied.

It was believed, the newspaper said, that the hackers entered the company's computers through its e-mail software and then went into a "back door" to the computer.

The method used by the hackers to break into Microsoft's computer system was still being investigated. Computer Associates International (CA), a Long Island software company, issued an alert Friday for a computer worm called Qaz.Trojan, which is said to have been used to get into the Microsoft network.

The company said the worm program was designed to give hackers control over a target computer to steal passwords and files. It is spread through shared drives on a computer network disguised as a Microsoft Notepad file rather than through the e-mail route used by most worms.

"While CA's InoculateIT solution has provided protection against Qaz.Trojan since August, the Microsoft attack underscores the requirement for users to ensure that virus signatures are maintained to avoid critical data from being hijacked,'' warned Simon Perry, CA's vice president for security solutions.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20010912212604/http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/10/27/180052.txt