NSA employee pleads guilty to spy charge – the antivirus software he used raises red flags

In what’s being called “a remarkable spy-vs.-spy twist,” a National Security Agency employee pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act after Israeli cyber spies tipped off the agency about a security breach.

Nghia Hoang Pho faces an eight-year sentence for willful detention of national defense information for working at home without authorization on sensitive hacking tools, The Washington Post reported.

(Image: screengrab)

Pho was nabbed because he used Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software, which is banned on federal government computers out of fear that it could enable Russian government spying — Kaspersky is a Russian firm.

More from The Post:

Pho, a naturalized citizen, worked as a developer in Tailored Access Operations (TAO), the agency’s elite hacking unit, which gathers intelligence by penetrating the computers of foreign governments and other targets overseas. The unit is now called Computer Network Operations.

He held various clearances, and former officials said he had no malicious intent in working on the tools at home. But the breach violated protocols and conditions for holding a security clearance. According to a court document, from 2010 to March 2015, Pho removed classified material in hard copy and digital form.

 

Israeli government hackers had compromised Kaspersky’s network and detected hacking-tool signatures that they recognized as the NSA’s and alerted the agency, the newspaper reported.

Pho, 67, was removed from his position in 2015 as a result of this.

Stephen M. Schenning, acting U.S. attorney in Maryland, said Pho’s “conduct cannot and will not be tolerated.”

“The facts supporting this criminal charge and guilty plea display a total disregard of the defendant’s oath and promise to protect our nation’s national security,” Schenning said.

(Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)

A TOA contractor, Harold T. Martin III, was charged with violating the Espionage Act earlier this year for taking classified tools and other material home over several years, the paper reported. He has pleaded not guilty.

Congress and the Pentagon are greatly concerned about the NSA’s loss of control over its sensitive hacking tools, according to The Post.

Hacking tools similar to those taken by Martin were part of an August 2016 release by a group called the Shadow Brokers. Investigators suspect the Russian government is behind that release, though they have no proof to substantiate the claim.

Wake up right! Receive our free morning news blast HERE

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Tom Tillison

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles