PRESS: Russian security service prevents sale of Yandex source code

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- A Moscow district court has accused Dmitry Korobov, a former employee of Internet giant Yandex, of an attempt to sell the company’s search engine source code and algorithms for U.S. $25,000 and 250,000 rubles; the deal was aborted by a Moscow branch of the Federal Security Service, business daily Kommersant reported Thursday.

Korobov planned to invest the money in the creation of his own startup. A loss of the source code, which Yandex says is “a key part of the company,” could have turned into years of court proceedings for the Internet giant, along with severe reputation issues and lower capitalization.

The court said that Korobov copied Yandex software, which is part of the company’s confidential information, in March, when he still worked there, to hand it over to third parties.

A source familiar with the investigation told Kommersant that the stolen source code and algorithms are estimated at “billions of rubles, which accounts for a significant part of Yandex’s value, as the search engine is the company’s main service”.

Anastasia Adilova, an employee of Yandex’s legal department, said at court that the software was part of the search engine, which is the main source of the company’s income.

The court found Korobov guilty and imposed a suspended sentence of two years on him.

(70.9333 rubles – U.S. $1)

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