Microsoft has filed a complaint in an United States court against an AT&T subscriber for activating several illegal versions of Windows 7 and Office 10. The account was discovered by Microsoft's forensic team based on suspicious activation patterns.
According to the complaint Microsoft saw different activations on the IP address of internet provider AT&T. Based on the properties of the activations, Microsoft argues the suspect activated illegal software on the IP address. By means of a lawsuit Microsoft wants to obtain the identity of the subscriber or subscribers to recover damages, TorrentFreak reports.
In the complaint Microsoft also mentions that the recently opened Cyber Crime Center uses several techniques to battle software piracy. Part of the cyberforensics, as the software giant calls these techniques, is looking at activation data which users voluntarily release when they activate a product, including the IP address from which the product is activated.
"Cyberforensics allows Microsoft to analyze billions of activations of Microsoft software and identify activation patterns and characteristics that make it more likely than not that the IP address associated with the activations is an address through which pirated software is being activated", Microsoft writes in the complaint.
These include product keys that are stolen, OEM product keys, product keys from subscription services that are not used or product keys that are used more often than allowed.
