[ISN] Microsoft tries to clean up COFEE spill

http://gcn.com/articles/2009/11/11/microsoft-forensics-tool-cofee.aspx

By Kurt Mackie
GCN.com
Nov 11, 2009

Someone spilled hot COFEE, otherwise known as Microsoft's Computer 
Online Forensic Evidence Extractor.

The spill or leak was noted on Monday in reports from CrunchGear and Ars 
Technica. COFEE is a computer forensics solution that Microsoft provides 
for free to law enforcement agencies. It's really a collection of tools 
packaged together on a thumb drive for easy use by police on the scene 
of a crime or cybercrime.

Now, the software has somehow become expropriated, and it's found its 
way onto bit torrent sites.

Essentially, COFEE is now openly distributed as pirated software. The 
distribution was supposed to have been controlled through the National 
White Collar Crime Center or INTERPOL.

Microsoft confirmed the leak on Tuesday, stating that it plans to 
"mitigate unauthorized distribution of our technology beyond the means 
for which it's been legally provided," according to a statement from 
Richard Boscovich, senior attorney for Internet safety at Microsoft 
Corp. He discouraged people from downloading pirated COFEE software - 
not just because it's an unauthorized distribution, but because the 
copies could have been modified.

[...]


________________________________________ 
Did a friend send you this? From now on, be the 
first to find out! Subscribe to InfoSec News 
http://www.infosecnews.org