The Department of Justice has announced new charges against former CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte for allegedly leaking classified CIA documents, software projects, and hacking utilities called Vault 7 to WikiLeaks. Schulte was charged on August 24, 2017 with possession of child pornography, but was also believed to be the source of the embarrassing leak of CIA documents.
Today, federal prosecutors have charged Schulte with 3 charges related to the theft and disclosure of the Vault 17 material and his possession of child pornography.
« Joshua Schulte, a former employee of the CIA, allegedly used his access at the agency to transmit classified material to an outside organization,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “During the course of this investigation, federal agents also discovered alleged child pornography in Schulte’s New York City residence. We and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting national security information and ensuring that those trusted to handle it honor their important responsibilities. Unlawful disclosure of classified intelligence can pose a grave threat to our national security, potentially endangering the safety of Americans.”
The new charges are:
- illegal gathering of national defense information
- illegal transmission of lawfully possessed national defense information
- illegal transmission of unlawfully possessed national defense information
- unauthorized access to a computer to obtain classified information
- theft of Government property
- unauthorized access of a computer to obtain information from a Department or Agency of the United States
- causing transmission of a harmful computer program, information, code, or command
- making material false statements to representatives of the FBI
- obstruction of justice
- receipt of child pornography
- possession of child pornography
- transportation of child pornography
- copyright infringement.
Vault 7 Hacking Tools
When the Vault 7 tools were released by WikiLeaks it showed a deep and scary insight into how the CIA was utilizing hacking tools and methods to monitor computers, cell phones, televisions, webcams, SSL connections, and more. These tools had a wide range of uses from listening in on rooms using Samsung TVs to building malware for Windows.
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