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Former NSA Contractor May Have Stolen 75% of TAO's Elite Hacking Tools

posted by on Tuesday February 07 2017, @03:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-borrowed-for-a-while dept.

Fnord666 writes:

On Monday, The Washington Post reported one of the most stunning breaches of security ever. A former NSA contractor, the paper said, stole more than 50 terabytes of highly sensitive data. According to one source, that includes more than 75 percent of the hacking tools belonging to the Tailored Access Operations. TAO is an elite hacking unit that develops and deploys some of the world's most sophisticated software exploits.

Attorneys representing Harold T. Martin III have previously portrayed the former NSA contractor as a patriot who took NSA materials home so that he could become better at his job. Meanwhile, investigators who have combed through his home in Glen Burnie, Maryland, remain concerned that he passed the weaponized hacking tools to enemies. The theft came to light during the investigation of a series of NSA-developed exploits that were mysteriously published online by a group calling itself Shadow Brokers.

[...] An unnamed US official told the paper that Martin allegedly hoarded more than 75 percent of the TAO's library of hacking tools. It's hard to envision a scenario under which a theft of that much classified material by a single individual would be possible.

Source:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/former-nsa-contractor-may-have-stolen-75-of-taos-elite-hacking-tools/

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @06:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @06:03PM (#464177)

    Well, it is a stolen copy- how about that. You use copy as a noun, but the contractor copied as a verb: he 'duplicated' things. NSA contractors are not to take things out of the office. So any exact copy now residing anywhere the original is not- is theft. Theft of a copy at least.

    How about Identity Theft. Is not the original person still walking around, whilst ill-doers act up in their name?
    If I duplicated your entire home, family members, bank accounts, memories, and did with them as I will... would you not consider mimicking & tarnishing of your life the 'theft' of your life? Or would you just shrug and say "well that's not the real me".

    It's because OF the copied item's capabilities & 'brand association' that it's mere existence is defined by the word STOLEN. A stolen copy.

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 07 2017, @08:44PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday February 07 2017, @08:44PM (#464273)

    Hey, if you can figure out how to make a duplicate of my bank account, and then spend that money, while my own bank account is unchanged, let me know. I wouldn't be upset about that at all.

    And if you can figure out how to duplicate family members, that'd be a real feat too. I wonder if my girlfriend would mind if I had a duplicate of her? A duplicate of myself would be great too: I have more projects than I have time to complete. Two of me could get more stuff done around the house (and keep the girlfriend and her clone satisfied as well...).