Microsoft's story changed dramatically in the first few days after the hack was exposed in the media. At first, MS reps reacted with alarm. At that point, they said they believed that intruders had been wandering the MS network, unrestrained and undetected, for up to six weeks. Quickly, though, MS changed its tune claiming that it had known the hackers were aboard all along and had been watching them every step of the way. Moreover, MS reps then claimed to have been trailing the hackers and documenting their nefarious activities for a mere 12 days at the time the story broke publicly.
Many observers smell a rat.
The Big Hack surfaced on October 25, 2000. His statement to the SEC indicated that he had just acquired the shares by exercising some stock options and was planning to turn right round and sell them. You tell me. No matter how you look at it, it looks bad for Microsoft. They were had by a bunch of clowns who needed only lightweight subterfuge and commonly-available tools to hack into what should be the world's most secure commercial server.