Alleged Hacker Now Works for Microsoft
Jeremy Signol
Jul 9, 6:05 PM (ET)
By ALLISON LINN
SEATTLE (AP) - A man accused of hacking into search engine
company AltaVista's computer systems about two years ago
is now employed by Microsoft Corp., reportedly working on
search technology.
Laurent Chavet, 29, was arrested by FBI agents a week ago
in Redmond, Wash., acting on a warrant issued in San
Francisco.
Federal prosecutors allege that Chavet hacked into
AltaVista's computer system to obtain software blueprints
called source code and recklessly caused damage to
AltaVista's computers.
Microsoft spokeswoman Tami Begasse said Friday that
Chavet, who lives in suburban Kirkland, is an employee of
Microsoft. She declined further comment on the nature of
Chavet's employment or when he started at the company,
citing Microsoft policy on not discussing personnel
matters.
Generally speaking, Begasse said: "We're confident in our
policies and procedures we have in place to protect our
code and to ensure that employees do not bring third party
code into the work place."
A woman who answered the phone at Chavet's house Friday
said he would have no comment.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, citing anonymous sources,
reported that Chavet had been working on Microsoft's MSN
Search effort.
In a research paper on search technology published in IBM
Systems Journal, Chavet is listed as a search expert who
works at Microsoft and was previously with AltaVista.
In 2003, AltaVista, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., was
acquired by search company Overture Services, Inc., which
in turn was acquired by Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) later that year.
Microsoft's MSN Web site currently uses both Overture's
and Yahoo's search technology.
But the Redmond company has begun an aggressive effort to
develop its own search technology as it tries to compete
with search engine leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo.
Microsoft, which has acknowledged it lags in search, hopes
to play catch-up with a broad-based search tool that
allows users to also scour through e-mails, documents and
even big databases.
Court documents say Chavet worked at AltaVista from
approximately June 1999 to February 2002. Beginning in
late March 2002, the U.S. attorney's office alleges in
court documents, Chavet began accessing AltaVista's
computers without permission, causing about $5,000 in
damage over a one-year period.
A spokeswoman for Overture declined to comment on Chavet's
case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Sonderby, who is in
charge of the California unit that is prosecuting the
case, told The Associated Press that the allegations
against Chavet "do not pertain to Microsoft."
Chavet was released on a $10,000 bond and is expected to
make a court appearance July 20 in San Francisco. Both
charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison
and a $250,000 fine.