07-07-2009, 02:27 AM
http://www.computerworld.com/action/arti...Id=9135216
Programmer steals Wall Street trading code, FBI alleges
Sources confirm Sergey Aleynikov worked at Goldman Sachs
Gregg Keizer
July 6, 2009 (Computerworld) A high-level developer for Goldman Sachs
was arrested by the FBI Friday and charged with stealing computer code
that automates the firm's high-volume trading on stock and commodities
markets, according to court documents and sources close to the case.
The Reuters news service, which broke the story yesterday, tied the
developer, Sergey Aleynikov, to Goldman Sachs, where he was allegedly a
vice president of equity strategy.
Today, sources with knowledge of the case confirmed that Aleynikov had
worked for Goldman Sachs for the last two years, and allegedly tried to
steal code from the company.
In the days before his June 5 resignation from Goldman Sachs, Aleynikov
copied, encrypted and transferred approximately 32MB of proprietary code
to a server located in Germany, the FBI claimed in the complaint filed
July 4 by Special Agent Michael McSwain, a member of the agency's
securities fraud squad.
Aleynikov resigned to take a job with a new company "that intended to
engage in high-volume automated trading," for triple his $400,000
salary, the complaint said.
McSwain spelled out four data transfers from Aleynikov's workstation --
both locally and remotely -- on June 1, June 4 and June 5, then tied the
dates and times to Aleynikov's use of his keycard to access the office,
or logging in remotely from his home computer.
Aleynikov tried to cover his tracks, alleged McSwain. "The program used
to encrypt the files was then erased," the FBI agent swore in the
complaint. "An attempt was also made to erase the bash history, which
was unsuccessful, because of a feature of the Financial Institution's
computer system that retains a back-up copy of each user's bash history."
A "bash history" is a log of the most-recently-executed commands by a
user on a Unix-based operating system.
The FBI arrested Aleynikov late Friday night at the Newark Airport, and
charged him with theft of trade secrets and transporting stolen property.
The complaint said that Aleynikov had made a statement after his arrest,
admitting that he had copied and encrypted files from his company's
servers, then transferred them to the remote server, deleted the
encryption software and attempted to erase the bash history. "Aleynikov
claimed, however, that he only intended to collect 'open source' files
on which he had worked, but later realized that he had obtained more
files than he had intended," McSwain said.
Before sources confirmed that Aleynikov worked for Goldman Sachs,
Reuters had used facts in the FBI's complaint to match a LinkedIn
profile for someone named "Serge Aleynikov," including his May 2007
start date and the description of his job. In the complaint, for
example, McSwain said Aleynikov worked as a computer programmer on a
platform that "allows the Financial Institution to engage in
sophisticated, high-speed, and high-volume trades on various stocks and
commodities markets."
In the LinkedIn profile, meanwhile, Aleynikov notes his position with
Goldman Sachs and says he "lead development of a distributed real-time
co-located high-frequency trading (HFT) platform" at the firm.
As of 2:30 p.m. ET Monday, Aleynikov was still being held in federal
custody, pending bail. A Saturday hearing had set bail at $750,000, and
placed both travel restrictions and computer access limitations on him
assuming he posts a bond. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in the
Southern District of New York declined to comment further on the case.
Goldman Sachs also declined to comment today.
Programmer steals Wall Street trading code, FBI alleges
Sources confirm Sergey Aleynikov worked at Goldman Sachs
Gregg Keizer
July 6, 2009 (Computerworld) A high-level developer for Goldman Sachs
was arrested by the FBI Friday and charged with stealing computer code
that automates the firm's high-volume trading on stock and commodities
markets, according to court documents and sources close to the case.
The Reuters news service, which broke the story yesterday, tied the
developer, Sergey Aleynikov, to Goldman Sachs, where he was allegedly a
vice president of equity strategy.
Today, sources with knowledge of the case confirmed that Aleynikov had
worked for Goldman Sachs for the last two years, and allegedly tried to
steal code from the company.
In the days before his June 5 resignation from Goldman Sachs, Aleynikov
copied, encrypted and transferred approximately 32MB of proprietary code
to a server located in Germany, the FBI claimed in the complaint filed
July 4 by Special Agent Michael McSwain, a member of the agency's
securities fraud squad.
Aleynikov resigned to take a job with a new company "that intended to
engage in high-volume automated trading," for triple his $400,000
salary, the complaint said.
McSwain spelled out four data transfers from Aleynikov's workstation --
both locally and remotely -- on June 1, June 4 and June 5, then tied the
dates and times to Aleynikov's use of his keycard to access the office,
or logging in remotely from his home computer.
Aleynikov tried to cover his tracks, alleged McSwain. "The program used
to encrypt the files was then erased," the FBI agent swore in the
complaint. "An attempt was also made to erase the bash history, which
was unsuccessful, because of a feature of the Financial Institution's
computer system that retains a back-up copy of each user's bash history."
A "bash history" is a log of the most-recently-executed commands by a
user on a Unix-based operating system.
The FBI arrested Aleynikov late Friday night at the Newark Airport, and
charged him with theft of trade secrets and transporting stolen property.
The complaint said that Aleynikov had made a statement after his arrest,
admitting that he had copied and encrypted files from his company's
servers, then transferred them to the remote server, deleted the
encryption software and attempted to erase the bash history. "Aleynikov
claimed, however, that he only intended to collect 'open source' files
on which he had worked, but later realized that he had obtained more
files than he had intended," McSwain said.
Before sources confirmed that Aleynikov worked for Goldman Sachs,
Reuters had used facts in the FBI's complaint to match a LinkedIn
profile for someone named "Serge Aleynikov," including his May 2007
start date and the description of his job. In the complaint, for
example, McSwain said Aleynikov worked as a computer programmer on a
platform that "allows the Financial Institution to engage in
sophisticated, high-speed, and high-volume trades on various stocks and
commodities markets."
In the LinkedIn profile, meanwhile, Aleynikov notes his position with
Goldman Sachs and says he "lead development of a distributed real-time
co-located high-frequency trading (HFT) platform" at the firm.
As of 2:30 p.m. ET Monday, Aleynikov was still being held in federal
custody, pending bail. A Saturday hearing had set bail at $750,000, and
placed both travel restrictions and computer access limitations on him
assuming he posts a bond. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in the
Southern District of New York declined to comment further on the case.
Goldman Sachs also declined to comment today.
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“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.