Former DoE Employee Ensnared By Secret-Selling Sting Pleads Guilty (washingtonpost.com) 40
mdsolar writes: A former Energy Department employee accused of attempting to infiltrate the agency's computer system to steal nuclear secrets and sell them to a foreign government pleaded guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge of attempting to damage protected government computers in an email "spear-phishing attack." Charles Harvey Eccleston, a former employee at the department and at the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), was arrested March 27 by Philippine authorities after an undercover FBI sting operation. Eccleston, 62, a U.S. citizen who had been living in the Philippines since 2011, was "terminated" from his job at the NRC in 2010, according to the Justice Department. In January 2015, the department said, he targeted more than 80 Energy Department employees in Washington at four national nuclear labs with emails containing what he thought were links to malicious websites that, if activated, could infect and damage computers.
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Why does a coin toss have more credibility than an economist? Same reason.
Hell no to washington post link (Score:3)
Non paywalled version [securityweek.com]
Not only that the story seems to have bypassed the firehose. Didn't we already chat about this yesterday whipslash?
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WashPost link wasn't paywalled for me. You're in the US?
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WashPost link wasn't paywalled for me. You're in the US?
You may be able to bypass WoPo's paywall if you are coming from a .edu, .gov, or .mil client. You may also be able to access a quota of articles before the paywall kicks in. They play around with different policies, so I am not sure if these particular policies are currently in effect.
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Or, as in my case, maybe it's simply a case of being outside the country.
Whatever--Don't read it that often anyway.
Re:The making of a Terrorist (Score:4, Informative)
Reading comprehension fail.
The sting was launched after Eccleston offered to provide an unnamed foreign government with more than 5,000 email addresses of all Energy Department employees for $19,000, or else he would offer the information to China, Iran or Venezuela, according to court files.
After the unnamed foreign government reported the incident, the FBI sting operation sent undercover employees posing as the country’s representatives to meet with Eccleston in 2013.
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Canada, or any other country that thinks email addresses aren't bait worth biting.
At that time, from that country's perspective, Eccleston may have been a US agent trying to get that country to engage in easily-traced espionage. If they made a deal and were provided a list of email addresses, they might also get a number of fake accounts that serve as honeypots. Any attack on those fake accounts is a clear connection to the country in question, and they can't effectively deny it.
When that accusation is pres
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Reading comprehension fail.
In addition to his reading comprehension fail, AC also has a problem with numbers. This is not 50 years:
He faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, but in a plea deal with prosecutors both sides said a term of 24 to 30 months is appropriate at sentencing April 18 before U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss of the District.
Hmm... (Score:2)
"Unnamed". So, Russia most likely, longer shot would be North Korea.
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As has been discussed every other time it comes up, yes, the FBI can do exactly that.
Law enforcement officers can lie to you, bribe you, and they can even break certain laws (with appropriate approvals) to get you do do something illegal. There is a single defense against this kind of tactic, and it doesn't require a lawyer or court fees: just don't do it.
That's it. If someone asks you to do something illegal, decline. If they offer to assist, or even provide support, decline anyway. The FBI or police canno
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What ever would make you think that is SOP? Normally they pay a middle man to set people up. Makes me wonder who the "Robert Childs" was this time: http://fcir.org/2014/12/26/fbi... [fcir.org]
My Favorite is that the dude didn't just find a mentally handicapped person to manipulate, no... he got money off him first too. Can you imagine, they paid a child molesting informant for setting up and informing on....someone he owed money to.
Re: Question for /. (Score:1)
An idiot
Espionage and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (Score:3)
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By far and away the majority of defence industry espionage occurs via corporate greed, straight up selling secrets to the highest bidder. The more defence is contracted the more corrupt it becomes. Now you have contractors in the decision making process of whether or not to go to war, contractors fining ways to fabricate evidence in order to promote war and contractors stacking the decision making process with corrupt officials looking for non-working high salary positions. The FBI has it's job cut out for
Re:Espionage and Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (Score:4, Informative)
Most nuclear weapons proliferation occurs through espionage. Soviet Union, China, Israel, Pakistan all used spies to get started.
Most nuclear weapons proliferation occurs through defectors. The US, Soviet Union, China, Israel, Pakistan all used defectors to get started.
Expect a lot of people to be approached (Score:2)
A preemptive chat down to see how a person responds when contacted by a stranger, press, authors, peace activist, historians, random charming foreigner, fake diplomat with heavy accent or just a "new" "friend" in the area.
Holidays or travel really seem to get a person of interest to the top of a watch list.
When in another nation be careful of a honey trap or the friendly stranger approach.
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So in other words, it's exactly the same as what happens when a foreign intelligence agency wants to get information from an American.
Changing jobs might mean you're unhappy with your previous employer, and want to embarrass them. A stranger, press, authors, peace activist, historians, random charming foreigner, fake diplomat with heavy accent or just a "new" "friend" in the area might just be able to convince you that your government is the embodiment of Absolute Evil.
Holidays or travel really make for gre
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Thats going to be some big new databases to spend on and look after filled by the millions of contractors, mil and gov workers.
The the over time for the gov chat down teams that have to go out nationally and internationally to work on ex staff and former staff.
A whole new bureaucracy, set of contractors and funding. How many team members per person of interest? 2 at a min for a buddy system and to confirm? 6 for technical
UM (Score:2)
Should have removed the markings (Score:2)
He should have simply removed the markings from any documents containing classified information. Then he could say "they weren't marked classified when I sent them."
What's that, intentionally altering the markings for illicit purposes is another, separate felony?
AYFKM? (Score:2)
"...in a plea deal with prosecutors both sides said a term of 24 to 30 months is appropriate..."
AYFKM?
Did the prosecutors not comprehend what the hell he was doing?
Is NRC a weak link? (Score:2)
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