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Suspect Identified In CIA 'Vault 7' Leak (nytimes.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the search-and-destroy dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: In weekly online posts last year, WikiLeaks released a stolen archive of secret documents about the Central Intelligence Agency's hacking operations, including software exploits designed to take over iPhones and turn smart television sets into surveillance devices. It was the largest loss of classified documents in the agency's history and a huge embarrassment for C.I.A. officials. Now, The New York Times has learned the identity of the prime suspect in the breach (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): a 29-year-old former C.I.A. software engineer who had designed malware used to break into the computers of terrorism suspects and other targets.

F.B.I. agents searched the Manhattan apartment of the suspect, Joshua A. Schulte, one week after WikiLeaks released the first of the C.I.A. documents in March last year, and then stopped him from flying to Mexico on vacation, taking his passport, according to court records and family members. The search warrant application said Mr. Schulte was suspected of "distribution of national defense information," and agents told the court they had retrieved "N.S.A. and C.I.A. paperwork" in addition to a computer, tablet, phone and other electronics. But instead of charging Mr. Schulte in the breach, referred to as the Vault 7 leak, prosecutors charged him last August with possessing child pornography, saying agents had found the material on a server he created as a business in 2009 while he was a student at the University of Texas.

58 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Oh crap by bigman2003 · · Score: 2

    In the world of electronic data, nothing worse than taking from the CIA and NSA.

    Well, there is something worse...kiddie porn.

    That takes away all sympathy he may get from people.

    Hold him for the smut, but send him to a dark hole for the rest of it.

    --
    No reason to lie.
    1. Re:Oh crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Given that he's accused of taking from the worlds two best hacking organizations...

      I doubt a jury will find it convincing that all the "evidence" of kiddie porn is legit.

      How easy is it for the CIA and NSA to fabricate any kind of electronic evidence they want?

    2. Re:Oh crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm sure they "found" this on his computer.

      It's very convenient.

    3. Re:Oh crap by msauve · · Score: 1
      "Hold him for the smut, but send him to a dark hole for the rest of it."

      Well, that's a rush to judgment.

      Nothing in the summary or article indicates he illegally took anything from the CIA or NSA. There's this:

      agents told the court they had retrieved "N.S.A. and C.I.A. paperwork" in addition to a computer, tablet, phone and other electronics.

      Having "computer, tablet, phone and other electronics" at home is extremely common, as is having work related paperwork. Note they didn't claim that it was secret stuff, or that he wasn't supposed to possess it, etc. Heck, it may just be a pay stub and vacation schedule. I've seen lots of law enforcement claims, they always try to phrase it so it sounds as bad as possible, and worse than it is. They couldn't even manage to make it sound bad here.

      Child porn? Sounds like he set up a server open to university students, and the cops found some encrypted images that they can't link directly to him The worst they have is that "he advised one user, 'Just don't put anything too illegal on there.'" Hell, that could refer to lots of things other than child porn, he may have been thinking of mp3s or lists of exam questions. If the files were encrypted, how would he know, if he even bothered trying to look in the first place, and how did the cops decrypt them?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    4. Re:Oh crap by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      That's my point. Evidently my post wasn't clear enough for the conspiracy crowd.

      When you are hunting someone down for doing something that...well, maybe it isn't even illegal, but you really want them to stop- you charge them with kiddie porn.

      Nobody supports a pedophile. They (NSA etc) know that. So they use it.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    5. Re:Oh crap by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Personally, I wouldn't avoid jury duty. I actively WANT a chance to practice jury nullification and throw (a small amount of) sand in the gears of the sorry excuse of a justice system that exists in the US.

    6. Re:Oh crap by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Most juries are totally boring straightforward cases of theft, assault and some such with incontrovertible evidence. Nothing at all to nullify.

    7. Re:Oh crap by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      Stop asking questions. Don't you have some superhero movies to consume?

    8. Re: Oh crap by BlueStrat · · Score: 1

      The kiddie porn plant allows them to take him down for something other than his line of work. This is crucial because it allows him to be prosecuted without exposing methods of the CIA to the discovery process of the public courts.

      Thank you, I came here to say essentially the same thing. The last thing a US TLA wants are judges and lawyers poking around their activities, not only for "national security" reasons but also because they do a lot of blatantly illegal and unconstitutional shit, much of it to those same lawyers and judges (parallel construction?).

      The US no longer has a legitimate government. It's run by coalitions of rich and powerful oligarchs that play political power games much the same as in Russia. All the rest is window-dressing and kabuki theater for the bread-&-circuses masses.

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
    9. Re:Oh crap by msauve · · Score: 1

      To quote Dorothy Gale, "What would you do with a brain if you had one?"

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    10. Re: Oh crap by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      New strategy, embed CP into all archive binaries of CIA folders using stenography. This way anyone stealing CIA documents are immediately guilty of distributing CP. It makes a convenient cover to keep the security content redacted while prosecuting a crime with evidence less compromising to security.

      If I just thought of this, surely its been dreamed up at peast 100 times by people eay more devious than me.

    11. Re:Oh crap by technoid_ · · Score: 1

      They did this to Matt DeHart.

      --
      Two wrongs don't make a right, but 3 lefts do - Lew of GO magazine
  2. Make a deal now or it's FPITAP! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Fpmitap!

    1. Re:Make a deal now or it's FPITAP! by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fpmitap!

      PC Load Letter? WTF does that mean?

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    2. Re:Make a deal now or it's FPITAP! by martinX · · Score: 2

      Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison. It's a phrase from the movie Office Space.

      Out of sync YT clip here.

      --
      When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
  3. Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, cuz it's not like they wouldn't PLANT child porn on his computer to incriminate him, would they?

    1. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even ignoring the possibility of a government frame job, if we accept the possibility that it was planted, who is to say that the CIA et al were the ones who planted it? If someone is talented enough to steal from one of the world's elite cracking teams, don't you think that person would also be smart enough to make sure someone else takes the fall for it?

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    2. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seeing as "... and we found kiddie porn" happens each and every single last time this situation comes up, there is no question it was planted.

      The worse part is, no matter how much one might disagree if it should be, the fact of the matter is that it's already an imprisonable crime for a clearance holder to disclose classified documents.
      They didn't even need to go with the already-so-tired goto of planting/claiming child porn!

      Actually the only reason I can think they would do this is that if they prove or frame this guy for releasing those documents, then they can't frame or accuse anyone else of doing the same thing in the future.
      This way they can lose this guy in the federal prison system and on paper not having caught the leaker. Then they can accuse someone else of that crime in the future, and still keep their boogie man.

    3. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Really. "Finding" CP is such a cliche. Next he'll commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of his head several times.

    4. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Later, in the twentieth century, there were the totalitarians, as they were called. There were the German Nazis and the Russian Communists. The Russians persecuted heresy more cruelly than the Inquisition had done. And they imagined that they had learned from the mistakes of the past; they knew, at any rate, that one must not make martyrs. Before they exposed their victims to public trial, they deliberately set themselves to destroy their dignity. They wore them down by torture and solitude until they were despicable, cringing wretches, confessing whatever was put into their mouths, covering themselves with abuse, accusing and sheltering behind one another, whimpering for mercy. And yet after only a few years the same thing had happened over again. The dead men had become martyrs and their degradation was forgotten.

    5. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by DeVilla · · Score: 1

      If he goes to trial on the leak charges, a defense attorney can request documents. Confidential information could be force into the public record.

    6. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The people who create the tools are pretty good, but most of the prior using them are most low level idiots with bad op-sec.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by sabbede · · Score: 1

      If they were going to plant evidence, why not plant the evidence they'd need to convict him of leaking?

    8. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Because then they have to have a trial exposing 1) confidential CIA material and 2) how shoddy CIA's security was to allow him to steal all the information. Plant the CP and he goes to jail without exposing the CIA.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    9. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      The old CIA would have let him go to Mexico, then made him disappear, either quietly or messily, depending on the message they wanted to send.

      The new CIA just plants kiddie porn on your computer and lets the mob handle the problem.

    10. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by dlkwnt · · Score: 1

      So they faked the chat transcripts too?

    11. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      Motive: they were retaliating against a leaker/whistleblower. Show us someone else who had a motive and then you may have an argument.

      The actual leaker, if it was someone else.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    12. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by Agripa · · Score: 1

      They didn't even need to go with the already-so-tired goto of planting/claiming child porn!

      Actually the only reason I can think they would do this is that if they prove or frame this guy for releasing those documents, then they can't frame or accuse anyone else of doing the same thing in the future.

      Trying him in court him based on the leaked information might be inconvenient in a public court.

    13. Re:Yeah, they'd never frame him for that... by sabbede · · Score: 1
      So then where are the CP charges against Reality Winter?

      The courts have mechanisms for dealing with classified information, It seems far more likely that the CP charges aren't expected to stick, as he has a reasonable defense, but will keep him put while investigators build an espionage case.

  4. Planted evidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's the most likely explanation.

    1. Re:Planted evidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The most likely explanation is he was a lot more adept at hiding his most recent crime than one he did in the past. So they got him for the one in the past.

    2. Re:Planted evidence by Black+Parrot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They also "found" a baggie of Longbottom Green behind his toaster.

      The state has a *serious* PR problem if that's the first think straight people like me think of.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    3. Re:Planted evidence by bhetrick · · Score: 1

      But perhaps that won't happen. The guy creates state-sponsored malware, the point of which is to take over others' computers. We already know that once malware is present, the game is over. Doubtless any serious discussion as to what malware can actually have done to his computer (is it really his? Was his last interaction with it almost a decade ago?) would be suppressed as classified. The remaining argument, "it could have happened, computers are magic" would not be impressive to a layman.

      If someone has a twisted sense of irony, they might have used malware he wrote to plant the "evidence."

      Or, of course, the FBI and CIA might be entirely above board and honest in this instance. It is indeed conceivable.

    4. Re:Planted evidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Dude would probably be disappeared before that ever happened.
      "Oh dear, we are sorry to report that he killed himself with a sniper rifle from 50 yards with."

    5. Re: Planted evidence by Brockmire · · Score: 2

      I have no idea what you're saying.

    6. Re:Planted evidence by thesupraman · · Score: 1

      Jury?
      All they need to do is attach 'national security' to take care of that.

      Much more likely is someones idea of a way to turn the public against him before they drag out the next round of charges.

  5. Give him a medal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    He deserves a medal for degrating the government's ability to perpetrate more inside jobs. Giving aid and comfort to the feds make you an accessory to mass murder.

    Rules are rules are rules are rules.

    AE911Truth org

    1. Re:Give him a medal by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      At the very least, physical lockouts and uncorruptable logging of all access to verify against a warrant is woefully absent.

      It's the agent with access secretly working on behalf of a powerful political faction or person, looking into dirt and connections of their political enemies that drove the 4th Amendment's creation.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  6. kidde porn by ghinckley68 · · Score: 1

    I bet the kiddie porn was the reason he was working for the CIA NSA
    probably found it a long time ago

    --
    Linux modi 2.6.26-2-parisc
  7. Could be. He says 50-100 has access. Also Tor by raymorris · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That certainly could be. Also, he says that he gave 50-100 people access to his server, so they could share files. Any of those people could have dumped alt.binaries.porn.lolita there. His legal liability would be questionable.

    Or it could have been something like The Fappening and included pictures of people like McKayla Maroney or Liz Lee, who were under 18 at the time. There are a lot of ways a computer nerd could end up with a big stash of porn, possibly downloaded by a script, and have that large stash include a number of under 18 images, even if they didn't intend to.

    Published reports from early in the investigation also mention that he used Tor. Surfing around on Tor one might encounter illegal material without actively looking for it.

  8. Encryption works both ways by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    But instead of charging Mr. Schulte in the breach, referred to as the Vault 7 leak, prosecutors charged him last August with possessing child pornography, saying agents had found the material on a server he created as a business in 2009 while he was a student at the University of Texas.

    And if you believe this, I got a bridge for sale. Bullshit. I don't believe this even for an instant. And this is yet another use-case for encryption. It protects you from having evidence planted, as well! This is very obviously a planting of evidence when they couldn't build a real case against the guy. Despicable.

  9. Traitor by benjfowler · · Score: 1

    So... a traitor AND a nonce?

    These are the morals of Putin, of Chekists, of Russia's ruling elite -- and their dupes and sympathisers in the West. People who would rape children, would also be selfish, sick and depraved enough to betray their homeland and people.

    Death is too good for these people.

    1. Re:Traitor by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      That word doesn't mean what you think it does.

      1.) No one has declared war against the United States. The last time that happened was the Civil War.

      2.) The United States does not have a list of enemies. The last time that happened was WWII.

      Perhaps the word you're looking for is "espionage." See Snowden for reference.

      Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

      The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re:Traitor by benjfowler · · Score: 1

      Treason is a thing in peacetime.

      Although we are not in a declared state of war with Russia, Putin's fascist junta has been waging war against America and the West since he first stole power in 2000. We understand Putinist Russia's Nazi-like nature, and some of us understand that Putin's Russia has declared a vicious fascist shadow war on the civilized world. We know about Ukraine, and Syria. We know about MH17 and Smolensk. We know about the apartment bombings and countless other Putinist crimes against humanity. We're not stupid.

    3. Re:Traitor by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Doesn't matter.

      1.) No United States citizen has declared war against the United States.

      2.) The United States does not have a list of enemies. They thought about it, years back, but there were several problems:

      A.) Anybody doing business with an enemy would be guilty of treason.

      B.) No allies of the United States could do business with the enemies, either.

      C.) Anyone from a country on the enemy list, within United States borders or standing on United States territories, would be prisoners and would be either deported or incarcerated.

      D.) Other shit; some are obvious and others aren't.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    4. Re:Traitor by thesupraman · · Score: 1

      So, are you telling me the Americans and American corporations that did business with the German government during ww2 are doing to face treason charges soon?
      I would have my doubts.

    5. Re:Traitor by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      You're bullshitting about what I'm telling you and I'm not taking the bait.

      Slow day for you?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    6. Re:Traitor by benjfowler · · Score: 1

      I guess the old bot stand-by of "Russophobia" has lost its sting, am I right???

  10. that's why the whole child pornography exists by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    I would not be surprised if a lot of "materials" were generated by secret services as well.

    There is always that one crime in the state that is the favorite of the government to make up charges.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  11. Insiders ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... Manning, Snowden, Winner, and now this.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  12. CIA Evil by labnet · · Score: 1

    The CIA must be about the most evil organisation on the planet. There are really just quasi government thugs working primarily for very big business: arranging overthrows of governments to ensure good trade deals and that the petro dollar is maintained.

    --
    46137
    1. Re:CIA Evil by admin7087 · · Score: 1

      Why? Torture is torture. People like George W.Bush, Dick Cheney and Gina Haspel should be in life-long prison for torture, yet are walking around freely. Haspel probably will become head of the CIA soon.

      Also, what makes you think these assessments are new? Forgot about supporting dictators in Chile and Egypt? Napalm on children in Vietnam? Drone strikes killing entire wedding parties? Raping minors and shooting pregnant women in Iraq?

      Besides, maybe in your book two wrongs make a right, but certainly not in the book of people with a moral compass. The US has been the country of double moral standards for the past 70 years.

  13. Wrong order... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He did things in the wrong order. You go to a non-extradition country, and THEN you leak what you need to leak. Assuming he leaked anything and isn't just a fall guy for piss-poor security at the CIA.

    1. Re:Wrong order... by evanh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My guess is the CIA had a short list of likely suspects and when the documents were revelled those individuals were all given a poke. Anyone of that group that appeared to run would be arrested.

      The charges will, of course, be fabricated because there isn't any evidence for who leaked the documents.

  14. This is so bogus by Ropati · · Score: 2

    What do the Feds have?

    This kid at 20 while a CS student at UT of A sets up a web server in college and give unmonitored access. Some assholes post encrypted (how was that decrypted) porn on the server. That is what the feds are holding him on. They don't have shit. It wasn't his porn and they know it. Add another $10k to his student loans to teach him a lesson.

    What happened?
    CIA was hacked and spectacularly. Got it. I would think it would take a team to accomplish this. How could you get this stuff out the door. One kid walks out with even code snippets after Snowden !? That is really hard to believe. I would have thought the doors were shut. Instead I would have expected a North Korean team pierced the security. They can't brag, so they post.

    CIA investigators need to show progress, they find a kid who left CIA employment (with animosity for poor management, [imagine that]). They raid his place search all his stuff and find nothing. He was locked up and release on bail with instructions not to touch a computer. Give me a break. How can a millennial who makes a living on a computer, live without one. Busted for touching a computer and back in jail. His family is broke trying to defend their son.

    Nothings moving so they sell him to the media as their prime suspect.

    The Feds have nothing, so they are going to ruin another human being to protect their jobs. We wait another 45 days for charges and I bet you there will be no charges. They don't have squat and this kid rots.

    I don't know the the guy, I have no connection to federal cyberspace, but if the entire weight of the federal prosecution system can't find anything but someone else's kiddy porn after holding him for a year, then the entire case is chick shit and Joshua Schulte is going to be burned at the stake by public opinion. My American Citizenship feels stained.

    If anyone puts up a legit website to defend this kid and linked to his parents, they can have my $50.

    --
    machinator omnis sine licentia
  15. SEX CRIME by MrKaos · · Score: 2

    Literally right out of 1984.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  16. Child Porn: the gift that keeps on giving ... by Alan+R+Light · · Score: 1

    The gift that keeps on giving ... power to government.

    Nothing at all suspicious about charges that never need to be proven because the public is forbidden from seeing the evidence. Nothing at all suspicious about a crime where, if evidence were needed, it could easily be faked.

    Move along, nothing to see here. Unless you want to go to jail, that is?

  17. Legally, it makes no difference if they framed him by Alan+R+Light · · Score: 1

    Even if the CIA did frame him, legally it makes no difference. The charge is for possession. How one came into possession, or whether one is even aware of that possession, is irrelevant to the court.