Posted on 05/15/2018 2:30:29 PM PDT by Brown Deer
Joshua Adam Schulte, who worked for a CIA group that designs computer code to spy on foreign adversaries, is believed to have provided the agency’s top-secret information to WikiLeaks, federal prosecutors acknowledged in a hearing in January. The anti-secrecy group published the code under the label “Vault 7” in March 2017. It was one of the most significant and potentially damaging leaks in the CIA’s history, exposing secret cyberweapons and spying techniques that might be used against the United States, according to current and former intelligence officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Federal authorities searched his home last year and he was indicted in September on ‘charges of possessing, receiving and transporting child pornography’. From 2009 when a college student.. He has pleaded not guilty and is in federal custody. Schulte has also denied any involvement in the leak . Prosecutors said in court documents they plan to file a new indictment in the next 45 days.
On Twitter, WikiLeaks shared The Post’s story and wrote:
“US gov says that it suspects a former a young New York CIA officer is WikiLeaks’ #Vault7 source–because he complained to Congress of abuse in the CIA–but have no evidence to indict. So they put him in jail on improbable child porn accusations instead.”
Schulte’s family said they believe Schulte is being made to be a “scapegoat” for the CIA’s inability to keep its sensitive files secure. His father said Schulte complained about security vulnerabilities at the CIA, first to his bosses and then to the agency’s inspector general and a House intelligence committee member.
Interesting info on the guy at this link continued:
https://heavy.com/news/2018/05/joshua-schulte/
see post 21 and link
Thanks. What I was previously hearing did not pass the smell test.
MARCH 7, 2017 : (WIKILEAKS BEGINS LEAKING NEW SERIES OF LEAKS, WHICH IT DUBS “VAULT 7” CONCERNING CIA’S CCI’S HACKING OPERATIONS) Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.
The first full part of the series, “Year Zero”, comprises 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virgina. It follows an introductory disclosure last month of ***CIA targeting French political parties and candidates in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election.***
Recently, the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized “zero day” exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.
“Year Zero” introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of “zero day” weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.
Since 2001 the CIA has gained political and budgetary preeminence over the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The CIA found itself building not just its now infamous drone fleet, but a very different type of covert, globe-spanning force — its own substantial fleet of hackers. The agency’s...
(Excerpt) Read more at wikileaks.org ...-—— Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed (Wikileaks unveils the CIA), Wikileaks ^ | 3/7/2017 | Wikileaks
I could have guessed his ‘lifestyle’...picture proves it.
It’s kind of hard to feel sorry for the CIA, or just about any ‘security agency’ of our government, considering what we’re learning about the 2016 election.
I almost wish they’d simply BE GONE, and if that means a few more terrorist attacks each year, so be it.
Federal authorities say they found more than 10,000 child pornography files on a server he created in 2009 when he was in college. The server was started as a business by Schulte in order to share movies and other digital files, according to The Washington Post. Schulte said although he created the server and maintained it, 50 to 100 people had access to the server. Investigators provided messages in court documents suggesting Schulte was aware there were encrypted images of children being molested by adults, but in one message he told a user, “Just don’t put anything too illegal on there.”
Schulte’s father, Roger, told The New York Times, his son created the serve when he was 20 and “had so many people accessing it he didn’t care what people put on it.”
He’s already locked up - charged with child porn....he’s a full-service Dem....
Thanks for posting the article. I read the part where he blogged about his beliefs, and while his views on small government are good, his relative morality statement was appalling to me. (There is no “good” or “bad”)
Normally when I hear these things in this context, my first inclination is to regard the child pornography as a frame-up, but it was clear to me he knew stuff was being stored on there.
If I had a server and allowed people to store files on there, I would damn sure not allow them to store things like that, because it then becomes mine, and no amount of excuses are going to change anyone’s mind, and definitely not legal minds.
Given that he is an IT professional, I find it amazing and unbelievable he had that attitude.
I generally try to respect some of the views of libertarians since there are some aspects I appreciate, but people like him repel me and make that harder to do.
That passage kind of blew my mind. What kind of IT person is THAT?
Years ago, I knew of a guy who worked at a large company, and was involved in servers. He set up a server on company hardware, and was storing terabytes of movies and music on it.
And a lot of people knew about it and used it, or so he said.
When he proudly told me about it, I was appalled. “Are you insane? Do you know what could happen to you if the company found it, or someone ratted you out to an anti-piracy or government group? They aren’t going to go after Joe Blow with a bunch of movies, they are going to go after someone if they have big pockets...and where will that leave you? Do you think they are just going to pay their multi-million dollar fine and be done with it? You would be ruined, and rightfully so!”
I still can’t believe the person did that. How could someone be so stupid?
What kind of IT person is THAT?
20 year old in college.
I agree with you. Many computer wizards are detail oriented and anal. They often don’t see the bigger picture.
Is he the ‘mole’ spying on the Trump campaign?
But old enough to vote! (not all 20 year olds are as lamebrained as that, and not all 40 year olds are exempt from that lamebrainery, but...well, you get the idea!
He was a student , about 20 I think then. Either or there’s more to this than meets the eye to be sure.
Yes, but...he has had (I hope!) 9 years of experience that at some point he would have said:
“Hmm. This is a bad idea to let people store whatever they want to on this server without me knowing about it, especially since I work (worked) at the CIA!!!!!!”
LOL, first, you would think it would make him more susceptible to either a frame job, or a candidate for blackmail, neither of which can be good when you have a security clearance.
I guess if you work in that environment, it must be like the frog in the water that is slowly being heated up...
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