https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/former_l3harris_cyber_director_charged/
Federal prosecutors have charged a former general manager of US government defense contractor L3Harris's cyber arm Trenchant with selling secrets to an unidentified Russian buyer for $1.3 million.
According to the Justice Department, Peter Williams stole seven trade secrets belonging to two unnamed companies between April 2022 and June 2025 "knowing and intending those secrets to be sold outside of the United States, and specifically to a buyer based in the Russian Federation."
The court documents [PDF*] don't specify what the trade secrets involved, but Williams worked as a director and general manager at L3Harris' Trenchant division, which develops cyber weapons.
According to the company's website, it supports "national security operations with end-point intelligence solutions," and is "a world authority on cyber capabilities, operating in the fields of computer network operations and vulnerability research."
This is corporate speak for offensive cyber tech, such as zero-day exploits and surveillance tools. But Trenchant claims it uses its cyber powers for good, not evil.
Links in article:
* https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/10/23/peter_williams_charges.pdf
https://www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/trenchant
https://www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/offensive-cyber
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 04, @12:59AM (5 children)
We're always hearing how clever the Russians are at penetrating USA systems...but maybe they take the easy way and just buy all those exploits?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday November 04, @01:20AM
¿Por qué no los dos?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Unixnut on Tuesday November 04, @01:48AM
First rule of any secure system: The weakest link is usually the human in the loop. This is why "social engineering" is the most common (and most successful) vector of compromise nowadays. Some do it due to being tricked, others out of desperation, greed, fear, or ideology, but it happens and is common.
This is most likely not the first nor the last example (and every country has the same issue). Interestingly as the cost of living keeps rising faster than wages, I suspect more and more people will do similar things out of financial desperation. Perhaps not as serious as selling military secrets to a foreign state, but more local equivalents, like leaking information to business competitors for money I can see becoming more common.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday November 04, @02:58AM
Most nations with serious intel efforts do plenty of both: There's SIGINT, which involves compromising communications systems, and HUMINT, which involves compromising people. Most intel officers will basically say "Do whatever works, and ideally what you find matches up rather than contradicts what the other folks found."
The USA is certainly no exception: The NSA is doing everything it can to tap the Internet, machines, phone wiring, etc. The CIA is doing everything it can to develop sources inside foreign countries.
Some of the more famous stories of extremely successful spies were the kind of people who were frumpy older women who would work as janitors and just pull compromising information out of the trash can. Shredding it helps prevent this, but not 100% if they really really care what's on the paper.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Touché) by epitaxial on Tuesday November 04, @04:43AM (1 child)
Trump gives away secrets for free.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/after-white-house-trump-allegedly-discussed-potentially-sensitive/story?id=103760456 [go.com]
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-tweeted-a-sensitive-photo-internet-sleuths-decoded-it/ [wired.com]
Then you have the documents he declassified by waving his hands over at his shitty golf course.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Thexalon on Tuesday November 04, @12:49PM
Hey now! He doesn't just give them away for free, he also sells them to Russians, Saudis, and whoever else will pay him.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 04, @01:18AM
https://www.l3harris.com/capabilities/defense [l3harris.com]
L3Harris Receives VAMPIRE Contract for Ukrainian Security Defense Efforts [l3harris.com] Medium priced anti-drone (think shaheds) laser guided missile system - transportable, line-of-sight targeting, weather and horizon impacts on detection and targeting, sensible to dazzle countermeasures.
Ukrainian feedback is fueling L3Harris radio updates [axios.com]
L3Harris history [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 04, @01:37AM (1 child)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/03/how-an-ex-l3-harris-trenchant-boss-stole-and-sold-cyber-exploits-to-russia/ [techcrunch.com]
(Score: 2) by Username on Tuesday November 04, @05:48PM
The most interesting part is this shitbag fired some random employee claiming they were the leaker. Hope the guy sues.