
N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Biggest Breach of U.S. Secrets Pleads Guilty - jonbaer
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/hal-martin-nsa-guilty-plea.html
======
usaphp
> 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...

~~~
westpfelia
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.

------
gcb0
"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.

~~~
renholder
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.

------
rl3
> _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.

~~~
renholder
> _...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".

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burger_moon
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?

------
ragerino
Warned by "Kapersky Lab"!

------
sneak
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.

------
gcb0
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?)

