N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Biggest Breach of U.S. Secrets Pleads Guilty | Hacker News Reader

N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Biggest Breach of U.S. Secrets Pleads Guilty

nytimes.com

78 pointsjonbaer11 comments

> F.B.I. investigators focused on Mr. Martin after getting a tip from Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity company. Two Kaspersky employees had gotten cryptic messages from Mr. Martin — calling himself “HAL999999999” — via Twitter that seemed to be offering secrets, as Politico first reported in January. The assistance was a bit ironic, because American intelligence officials have sometimes accused Kaspersky of being too close to Russian intelligence, charges the company denies.

via Twitter of all places...

Guess he tried to hide in plain sight.

Honestly this is what makes me question the validity of it all. Twitter can be subpoena'd and will turn over data. So why would someone who aparently worked for the NSA's hacking unit basicaly ignore all OPSEC? I mean jeez. This guy was basically one step from personally signing his tweets offering the data.

"guilty after two year arrest"

how many here could continue to fight for innocence, true or otherwise? I certainly couldn't for monetary reasons alone, let alone psychological ones.

To be fair, he was originally willing to plead but the negotiations broke down; presumably, because the government was under the impression he was part of the Shadow Brokers, so they wanted to make an example of him and crucify the holy hell out of him. It, genuinely, sounds like the DA pulled their head out of their ass, finally, and struck a deal.

This isn't to counter your argument, whatsoever, but to reinforce it: If they were looking to give him 25 to life, that's something he'd, obviously, want to fight because it's disproportionate to the crime and it would be extremely arduous to keep going back and forth, trying to proclaim your lack of malicious intent, when the government has already made-up it's mind in that regard.

>Investigators at first believed Mr. Martin might be the Shadow Brokers, who had posted their first announcement of their auction of N.S.A. hacking tools a half-hour after Mr. Martin blocked the two Kaspersky workers on Twitter. They found the same N.S.A. exploits in Mr. Martin’s vast collection of stolen material.

>But the Shadow Brokers continued to post taunting manifestoes and stolen software for months after Mr. Martin was jailed.

The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Also, I wouldn't doubt that the guy really was just an eccentric hoarder, Russian intelligence knew about it, and set about framing him via the Kaspersky/Twitter angle as a means to sew confusion as cover for their Shadow Brokers heist.

Has he ever actually admitted the Twitter activity was him? It's not a stretch to imagine his home network being compromised just for that purpose. Forensically undetectable frame jobs are very possible if it's a nation state actor doing the framing.

If USG really believed his intention was the sale of secrets, there would be no plea deal, and he'd probably be rotting in Florence ADX for the rest of his life.

>...and he'd probably be rotting in Florence ADX for the rest of his life

To be fair, if he really was either in the sale of secrets and/or a turned agent working for the USG, one of two other possible considerations could be made:

1. They could've turned him to use him for catching the interested buyers.

2. Sent him off for "a wonderful retreat" in GITMO.

I agree, the guy probably was a genuine hoarder. It isn't a stretch to go from hoarding tangible things (files, newspapers, etc.) to hoarding the intangible (computer files).

Also, I do find it relatively suspicious that this guy worked in a prestigious security tools area of the NSA and the FBI easily "traced" the Twitter account to him.

That part definitely sounds like, as you suggest, the Russians showing off - but, might I add, it also sounds like one of the other 5I's saying, "you bunch of eedjits, look here!", you know, because "allies aren't supposed to spy on allies".

Did he contact Kaspersky Labs with the intent to sell the secrets or to be a whistleblower? The whole twitter thing doesn't really make sense.

Why is the going to school if he's planning to cash out in a way that he'd have to flee the USG for the rest of his life?

Warned by "Kapersky Lab"!

I'm really surprised that anyone in the judicial system can take these prosecutions seriously after what Snowden showed us about the executive branch being willing to entirely trample upon any semblance of even appearing to conform to the constitutional protections that the judiciary is supposed to enforce.

and more importantly, will anyone be indicated by the lack of process that allowed data to be copied for the 20years the article tak about? or the OS backdoors that allowed "russian hackers to steal his personal information" from a NSA top hacker (i.e. not your average joe, like you and me?)

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