FBI Nabs DirecTV-Sharing Student

[Gregg Lengling]

11:46 AM Jan. 02, 2003 PT

WASHINGTON -- The FBI arrested a Russian college student Thursday who was accused of stealing and distributing hundreds of secret documents about new antipiracy technology from DirecTV, the nation's leading satellite television company.

The student, identified as Igor Serebryany, 19, of Los Angeles, was accused of sending over the Internet hundreds of sensitive documents describing details about DirecTV's latest "access card" technology -- credit-card devices controlling which of the company's 11 million U.S. subscribers can view particular channels.
Investigators said the documents were sent to operators of at least three underground websites that specialize in hacking these devices to permit subscribers to watch programming they never paid for.

Other websites also described details from the documents, but it was unclear whether they actually received copies, investigators said.

Investigators do not think Serebryany sought any money in exchange for the disclosures.

The documents included details about DirecTV's latest "P4" card technology, which hackers have so far been unable to crack. A lawyer for DirecTV, Marc Zwillinger, said the papers included details about the design and architecture of the new cards but did not reveal instructions for hacking them.

"Certainly anyone with this information would have an advantage," Zwillinger said.

Serebryany obtained the documents while working part-time at a law firm in California that performed legal work for DirecTV. Serebryany attends college in Chicago but his family lives in Los Angeles.

Serebryany was charged under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, a law so powerful that until March 2002 only the most senior Justice Department officials in Washington could authorize prosecutors to wield it. Only about 35 criminal cases have been filed under the law.

It prohibits anyone from disclosing trade secrets for economic benefit, and carries penalties in this case up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Although investigators acknowledge that Serebryany apparently didn't profit from the disclosures, the law bars giving away secrets for anyone else's economic benefit.