WASHINGTON, DC: A Russian man promising stolen hacking tools andcompromising information on President Donald Trump fleeced American spiesfor $100,000 last year, The New York Times reported Friday.
In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB-drivehandovers in a small West Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over theNational Security Agency’s Twitter account, CIA agents reportedly spentmuch of last year trying to buy back from the Russian hacking programsstolen from the NSA.
The seller, who was not identified but had links to both cyber criminalsand Russian intelligence, tantalised the US spies with an offer of the NSAhacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a shady groupcalled the Shadow Brokers.
Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of USrivals, were used by other hackers last year to break into computer systemsaround the world, including the global malware attack last May. The seller,reached through a chain of intermediaries, wanted $1 million.
The $100,000, delivered in a cash-stuffed suitcase handed over in a Berlinhotel room, was an initial payment by US agents still dubious he really hadwhat he was promising.
The seller also repeatedly pressed US agents with offers of compromisingmaterials, or kompromat, on Trump, the Times said, citing US and Europeanintelligence officials.
Although an investigation was already underway back in Washington on thelink between Moscow and the Trump campaign, the agents did not want to getinvolved in anything that smelled of the politics back home.
The story — which was also reported by The Intercept, an online magazine onnationals security matters — paints a classic spy versus spy story wherethe US agents aren’t ever certain about who they are dealing with andwhether or not they are being baited and played by their Russiancounterparts.
US intelligence officials say Russia interfered with the 2016 election tohelp elect Trump, and continues to use disinformation to sow confusion inthe American political system.
The Intercept reported that the operation created rifts in the CIA, whichis led by Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo but has many staffers still smartingover the president’s repeated harsh comments about the intelligencecommunity’s role in the Russia meddling investigation.
The Russian’s first delivery turned out to be hacking tools the ShadowBrokers had already released. And he kept pushing his offer of kompromat onTrump, including shady financial records and a sex video that the US spiesdidn’t really want.
In the end, the deal broke down last month — the Russian did not come upwith any of the unreleased NSA materials, and the Trump-related materialswere either already known or untrustworthy.
The Russian was told by the Americans to leave Western Europe and notreturn, according to the Times. – AFP