Three former U.S. intelligence operatives working as cyber spies for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have admitted to violating U.S. hacking laws and a ban on the sale of sensitive military technology under an agreement to avoid prosecution. did it.
According to Reuters, the three men, Mark Byrne, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gerek, were part of an undercover unit called "Project Raven" and were the first to be reported by Reuters as spying on their enemies in the UAE. Helped to
At the behest of the UAE's royal government, the Project Raven team hacked the accounts of human rights activists, journalists and rival governments, Reuters reported.
The trio confessed to hacking into computer networks in the United States and exporting state-of-the-art sensitive cyber tools without obtaining the required permission from the US government, according to court documents filed in US federal court in Washington DC on Tuesday.
The three former officials and their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
The UAE embassy in Washington DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The three former intelligence officials agreed to jointly pay 60 6,090,000 as part of an agreement with federal officials to avoid legal action and then did not seek U.S. security clearance, a key requirement for the jobs. And access to national security secrets.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Lesko of the Department of Justice's National Security Division said in a statement that those who hire or support such activities in violation of U.S. law should be prosecuted for such criminal conduct. Should be expected.
Reuters' revelations about Project Raven in 2019 highlighted the growing practice of former intelligence operatives selling spying material abroad without supervision or accountability.
Brian Warren Dran, assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, said in a statement that this was a clear message to all, including former US government employees who sell cyber content for the benefit of a foreign government or a foreign trading company. This is a threat and will have serious consequences.
Lori Stroud, a former US National Security Agency analyst working on Project Raven and a vocal advocate, said she was pleased to see the allegations. Timely, technical information reporting created awareness to ensure the delivery of justice.
A Reuters investigation revealed that Project Raven spied on several human rights activists, some of whom were later tortured by UAE security forces.
Former program members said they believed they were following the law because senior officials had promised them the US government had approved the job.
According to court documents, Bayer, Adams and Greek admitted to deploying a state-of-the-art cyber weapon called "Karma" which gave the UAE the ability to hack Apple iPhones and click on a link to do so. No need to.
According to a Reuters report, Project Raven used Karma to hack thousands of targets, including Nobel Prize-winning Yemeni human rights activists and hosts of a BBC television show.
