Spanish firm raided in logic-bomb backdoor probe

Three managers at an unnamed Spanish software developer have been arrested over allegations they planted 'logic bombs' in software that meant clients were obliged to pay for disruptive repairs and extended maintenance contracts. The Guardia Civil said that more than 1,000 clients of the Andalucia-based developer were affected …

[Code Monkey]

Backdoor probe

May I be the 1057th person to congratulate you on your use of the phrase "backdoor probe"?

[G2]

logic bomb or license expired?

not sure if they were logic bombs or expired licenses. From the (Google translated) description it looks to me more like they were expired licenses, left to lapse way past the expiration warning point, causing the software to refuse to function and require a license and contract renewal.

Seems the license expiration caught some self-important douche by surprise and this one called the police when they saw that the software refuses to work and shows a message asking to contact the company and renew the contract. They should have called IT and accounting departments to renew the license or choose a different software from the beginning.

Norton Antivirus, BitDefender and a lot of other software (not only antivirus) behaves this way by design, requires you to pay more money for continued usage of the software. Still, I haven't heard anybody calling the cops when their Norton/BitDefender (subscription that needs to be renewed yearly) asks for more money after a year of usage.

and about fake antiviruses... those are another story.

[Marco van Beek]

Not license expired...

Hi. I read the story in Spanish and the trick was done to all users of the software, but those who had paid for support had the "problem" fixed for free. Those who did have support had to pay, and were offered a new support contract.

[Dan 10]

oh the irony

I'm liking the fact that next to this article is an ad for Microsoft... oh how I have wondered...

[RW]

Just like Microsoft

Sounds just like Windows.

A notable example of Redmond's inefficiency, in that it takes them thousands of employees to do what a relative handful of siesta-loving Spaniards to do.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dont do this to business or you will get in trouble..

Stick to doing it to consumers like sony does.

[Martyn 4]

erm... a title?

i thought this is what microsoft had been doing for years