[ISN] Code Thieves Strike Again

From: InfoSec News (isn@private)
Date: Fri Oct 24 2003 - 00:34:51 PDT

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    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1361952,00.asp
    
    By Sebastian Rupley
    PC Magazine 
    October 23, 2003 
    
    Theft of source code is back in the spotlight. Alibre, a software 
    company based in Richardson, Texas, alleged this week that a former 
    employee - after being terminated—has begun illegally distributing a 
    product called "RaceCAD," which Alibre says is actually its product, 
    Alibre Design. Alibre's claim comes on the heels of the theft of 
    source code for the video game Half Life.
    
    "The program is being distributed on a Russian Web site," says J. Paul 
    Grayson, CEO of Alibre. The alleged thief of Alibre's source code has 
    moved to Russia, following his termination, according to Grayson. "We 
    have had direct contact with the individual involved, who has admitted 
    to stealing the product," he says. "Amazingly, he offered to 'settle' 
    with us and discontinue the English version if we gave him the Russian 
    version. Clearly, the only thing he is going to get is a stiff penalty 
    and likely jail time. Our message to those who have unknowingly used 
    RaceCAD is that they must remove it from their systems immediately. 
    We're offering a general amnesty to those in Russia who unwittingly 
    downloaded the illegal product and will allow them to use a legal 
    version of Alibre Design for a period of time." Alibre is not 
    releasing the name of the alleged code thief.
    
    According to Grayson, the alleged thief made "some minor 
    modifications" to the product before distributing it. Grayson also 
    says that currently the software is being distributed for free, but 
    that messages from the individual in question have suggested that 
    RaceCAD may soon go on sale for $200. "We are in contact with the 
    local police and with the FBI," Grayson says. "But to tell you the 
    truth, it's very hard to take any action in cases like this. Above 
    all, we would like people not to go get the product." Alibre has 
    contacted the ISP hosting the Russian Web site distributing the 
    software. Alibre has also posted Google advertisements in both English 
    and Russian to warn those who use the search term RaceCAD, that the 
    software is being illegally distributed.
    
    Alibre also claims that part of the illegal distribution is source 
    code from partners Spatial Corporation, a US company that is a 
    division of Dassault Systemes SA, which is based in France; UK firm 
    D-Cubed Ltd.; and the OpenDWG Alliance, based in the US.
    
    Dassault Systemes makes a modeling kernel called ACIS. "RaceCAD is not 
    an ACIS licensee, yet their application is based on the ACIS modeling 
    kernel," said Michael Payne, CEO of Spatial. "Clearly RaceCAD's use of 
    ACIS is illegal, not to mention the blatant theft of Alibre Design, 
    and [those responsible for the theft] can be sure we will be working 
    with Alibre to pursue them to the full extent of the law."
    
    Alibre's Grayson also says that the alleged code thief was sloppy 
    about modifying the original programming and left key signatures of 
    Alibre Design in the code, which at least one analyst agrees with. "It 
    appears the 'developers' were in such a hurry to complete their 
    piracy, [that] even though RaceCAD was purported to be originally 
    developed in Russian, a few English words are still scattered 
    about - the same ones used in Alibre Design," says Joe Greco, a CAD 
    industry expert and author. "It's obvious with even a cursory review 
    that RaceCAD is essentially an unauthorized version of Alibre Design, 
    down to every menu command, icon, and dialog box."
    
    "A quick visual inspection of the user interface shows that every 
    element in RaceCAD is identical to that in Alibre Design, down to a 
    pixel-for-pixel match for every icon," says a release from Alibre.
    
    The problem Alibre faces is not the only one of its kind to crop up 
    recently. The source code for the video game Half Life was recently 
    stolen by hackers and distributed on the Internet.
    
    
    
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