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Category — classified documents
Ex-NSA Developer Gets 5.5 Years in Prison for Taking Top Secret Documents Home

Ex-NSA Developer Gets 5.5 Years in Prison for Taking Top Secret Documents Home

Sep 26, 2018
A former NSA employee has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for illegally taking a copy of highly classified documents and hacking tools to his home computer between 2010 and 2015, which were later stolen by Russian hackers. Nghia Hoang Pho, 68, of Ellicott City, Maryland—who worked as a developer with Tailored Access Operations (TAO) hacking group at the NSA since April 2006—held various security clearances and had access to national defense and classified information. The personal Windows computer on which Pho stored the classified documents and tools was running Kaspersky antivirus software, which was then allegedly used, one way or another, by Russian hackers to steal the documents in 2015. Though Kaspersky Lab consistently denied any direct involvement in helping Russian intelligence agencies to pilfer sensitive secrets, the United States government banned federal agencies from using Kaspersky antivirus software over spying fears. In response, Kasper...
BREAKING! Another NSA Contractor Arrested For Stealing 'Secret' Documents

BREAKING! Another NSA Contractor Arrested For Stealing 'Secret' Documents

Oct 05, 2016
Another Edward Snowden? The FBI has secretly busted another National Security Agency (NSA) contractor over a massive secret data theft. The United States Justice Department charged Harold Thomas Martin , 51, with theft of highly classified government material, including " source codes " developed by the NSA to hack foreign government, according to a court complaint ( PDF ) unsealed on Wednesday. According to the DoJ's chief national security prosecutor John Carlin, Martin was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton , the same consulting firm that employed whistleblower Edward J. Snowden when he disclosed the global surveillance conducted by the NSA. Currently, the FBI is investigating whether Martin stole and leaked highly classified computer source codes developed to hack into the networks of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and other United States adversaries, the New York Times reports . If stolen, this would be the second time in last 3 years when someone with ...
4 Ways to Keep MFA From Becoming too Much of a Good Thing

4 Ways to Keep MFA From Becoming too Much of a Good Thing

Feb 11, 2025IT Security / Threat Protection
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has quickly become the standard for securing business accounts. Once a niche security measure, adoption is on the rise across industries. But while it's undeniably effective at keeping bad actors out, the implementation of MFA solutions can be a tangled mess of competing designs and ideas. For businesses and employees, the reality is that MFA sometimes feels like too much of a good thing. Here are a few reasons why MFA isn't implemented more universally. 1. Businesses see MFA as a cost center MFA for businesses isn't free, and the costs of MFA can add up over time. Third-party MFA solutions come with subscription costs, typically charged per user. Even built-in options like Microsoft 365's MFA features can cost extra depending on your Microsoft Entra license. Plus, there's the cost of training employees to use MFA and the time IT takes to enroll them. If MFA increases help desk calls, support costs go up too. While these expenses are far less t...
Chinese hackers infiltrate Indian Defence Research Organisation

Chinese hackers infiltrate Indian Defence Research Organisation

Mar 13, 2013
According to an exclusive report published today by DNA news, the computers of highly sensitive Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have reportedly been hacked by Chinese hackers as biggest security breach in the Indian Defence ever. Infiltrate leading to the leak of thousands of top secret files related to Cabinet Committee on Security, which have been detected to have been uploaded on a server in Guangdong province of China. Indian Defence Minister A K Antony said, " Intelligence agencies are investigating the matter at this stage and I do not want to say anything else. " " The leak was detected in the first week of March as officials from India's technical intelligence wing, National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), working with private Indian cyber security experts cracked open a file called "army cyber policy". The file had been attached to hacked email accounts of senior DRDO officials that quickly spread through the system in a matter...
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Anonymous leaks Classified Documents from Greek Finance Ministry server

Anonymous leaks Classified Documents from Greek Finance Ministry server

Oct 29, 2012
Collective hacking group Anonymous  leaks username-passwords  and classified documents from Greek Finance Ministry server. Just a few days before the Greek Parliament is scheduled to vote on a $17.45 billion spending cut and tax hike plan. Attack was carried out under anonymous operation named - #opGreece . The leaked documents include various classified data from e-mails that were exchanged between the Greek Ministry and envoys from international lenders negotiating more austerity measures and bailouts, to thousands of passwords of Greek individuals and evaluations of banks. " The cyber-attack was described as one of the most serious against Greek government networks " secnews.gr said in report .  The attackers claim that they wanted to expose the date on the state of Greek economy so that all Greeks know the truth and thus just days before the 13.5-billion-euro austerity package goes to Parliament for voting. " Citizens of Greece you are paying Ba...
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