Igor Serebryany, 19, a student at the University of Chicago, was taken into custody this morning without incident by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ... Serebryany is accused of stealing trade secret information pertaining to DirecTV's latest and most sophisticated conditional access card, the "Period 4" access card.
The information was stolen from the law offices of DirecTV's legal counsel, Jones Day Reavis & Pogue in Los Angeles. ... Serebryany was temporarily employed by an outside document imaging service that was hired by Jones Day to prepare documents in relation to the litigation. Serebryany obtained access to documents without Jones Day authorization and in violation of established procedures and agreements.
In September and October 2002, some of this sensitive trade secret information was posted on pirate websites on the Internet. These secrets included confidential internal design notes and correspondence between DirecTV and NDS regarding the Period 4 access card architecture and security features. Through forensic analysis of computer evidence and other investigative techniques, the FBI determined that Serbryany stole the trade secret information and published it to members of the hacking community for the sole purpose of helping the hacking community with its efforts to crack the Period 4 access card.
Serebryany is expected to make his first court appearance this morning in Courtroom 341 of the Roybal Federal Building, 255 East Temple, downtown Los Angeles. Serebryany faces a statutory maximum 10-year sentence if convicted.
Yikes.
