A former CIA programmer has been convicted of leaking huge amount of classified information about agency’s intelligence-gathering cyber tools to WikiLeaks portal in 2016. Published in 2017 and widely known as “Vault 7”, this leak was one of the worst breaches in the history of CIA.
According to the US Department of Justice, “Joshua Schulte, 33, worked for an elite software team within the CIA”. Schulte covertly collected tools used by CIA to combat terrorism and shared them with WikiLeaks. Founded in 2005 by an Australian Internet activist Julian Assange, WikiLeaks publishes classified media provided by anonymous sources.
By leaking some of the government’s most critical intelligence tools Schulte exposed them to the US adversaries, thus putting the national security at risk, said the US Department of Justice.
“Moreover, Schulte was aware that the collateral damage of his retribution could pose an extraordinary threat to this nation if made public, rendering them essentially useless, having a devastating effect on our intelligence community by providing critical intelligence to those who wish to do us harm. Today, Schulte has been convicted for one of the most brazen and damaging acts of espionage in American history,” said Damian Williams, the US attorney who prosecuted Schulte.
Last week, the CIA’s ex-programmer was found guilty of nine charges, including illegally gathering and distributing national defense information. Now, Schulte is facing up to 80 years in prison.