Update: Russian Spy Worked at Microsoft

Microsoft has confirmed that one of the Russian spies rounded up was an employee for a short time, but did not have access to the company's source code.

Bloomberg originally reported that Alexey Karetnikov worked as a software tester at Microsoft for nine months, then was deported on or around June 8 as part of a sting that nabbed nine others.

A Microsoft spokesman confirmed the report on Wednesday, stating that Karetnikov was employed from October 2009 until June 2010. He would not confirm why Karetnikov left the company.

All ten defendants who are in custody were initially charged with conspiring to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government, and eight were also charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, The New York Times reported. The ten were later swapped for four men held in Russian prisons.

So far, Karetnikov has not been implicated in the theft of any company secrets, although it was unclear what products he came in contact with in his role as a software tester. But a spokesman said that he simply applied automated testing tools to Microsoft's products, and did not have access to Microsoft source code.

"We reviewed his activities and are confident that he did not compromise Microsoft software, our internal network, and our customers," the Microsoft spokesman said.

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Microsoft maintains a 75-person team of antipiracy investigators, whose job is to use forensic procedures to block and track down software pirates. But the Microsoft spokesman said he couldn't confirm the number of employees dedicated to internal security, although he confirmed such teams existed.

Bloomberg reported that other members of the ring apparently had software development experience. Andrey Bezrukov, another of the ten spies, tried to pass himself as "Donald Heathfield," and contacted Stratfor in a bid to sell or license the company a software program. "Heathfield" held five meetings with an employee of Stratfor, an intelligence and political consultancy, in an effort to get the firm to use his program, Stratfor CEO George Friedman told Bloomberg.