FBI Charges Hacker With Selling Stolen Windows Source Code

A Connecticut man was arrested Tuesday by the FBI and charged with selling stolen source code of Windows NT and Windows 2000.

William P. Genovese, 27, of Meriden, Conn., was charged with unlawfully distributing a trade secret in Manhattan U.S. District Court. The crime comes with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

The arrest is the first in the investigation into the February 2004 theft of pieces of Windows NT and Windows 2000 source code from a Microsoft partner.

Authorities allege the Windows code was being offered for sale from a Web site for as little as $20.

According to The New York Times, Genovese has a prior computer crime conviction. In early 2003, he was found guilty of illegally accessing systems in Connecticut and sentenced to two years probation, the newspaper said.