Microsoft Has Confirmed That Windows 10 Source Code Has Been Leaked

 

 

A portion of the source code for Microsoft's Windows 10 was published to a site that bills itself as a fan site that tracks Windows releases (I was going to poke some fun at these people, but I like to bowl, so I'll just admire the view from my glass house instead).

Windows 10 Source Code Is Published (read: leaked)

 

Beta Archive is an enthusiast site (sounds better than "geek", no?) for Windows releases that asks its members to give them money or provide something of Windows-value in order to receive access to a free, private archive and FTP stuffed to the gills with Windows builds.

Well, apparently one of these members went the extra mile and "donated" quite a good portion of the Windows 10 source code!

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the leak to The Verge in an email, "Our review confirms that these files are actually a portion of the source code from the Shared Source Initiative and is used by OEMs and partners."

 

 

While this leak is surely embarrassing to Microsoft and could give ideas to copycats, all of the source code is already widely available through Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative.  That means Microsoft partners, governments, enterprises, and even individual customers who license it, have access to it.

Andrew Whyman, owner of Beta Archive, revealed that the code was only 1.2GB in size and has been taken down since.

 

Arrests Were Made Just A Day After The Leak

Two blokes (I speak the Queen's English fluently...) were arrested in the United Kingdom not quite 24 hours after this Windows 10 source code leak, and Microsoft acknowledges the arrests were made in conjunction with an investigation into an unlawful breach of MS' network, but they have not confirmed the two incidents were related.

 

Microsoft Normally Avoids These Source Code Leaks

One would think these source code leaks would happen often, but MS found a way to take the wind out of people's sails by releasing early copies of their operating system to testers though its 'Inside' program.

They are also known to aggressively prosecute leakers.  While it still happens obviously, these are few and far between.