Ο Edward Snowden may be the best-known whistleblower of the NSA's actions due to the leaks of classified government files, but the agency's associate Harold Martin he is the one who carried out the largest theft of classified information in US history.
Martin, 51, was arrested during an FBI raid on his home in late August. He is accused of stealing dozens of computers and thousands of documents. The NSA partner was able to collect more than 50 terabytes of data (50.000 gigabytes), from government computers for over two δεκαετίες. Έτσι αν και οι κατηγορίες του αρχικά ήταν πλημμελήματα γρήγορα άλλαξαν σε κατηγορίες για κατασκοπεία - εν μέρει λόγω του τεράστιου όγκου των δεδομένων που έκλεψε.
At the moment no one knows how the authorities got hold of Martin, and of course the biggest question is how he was able to steal so much data - and go undetected - for so long.
Former NSA employees, who spoke anonymously, said Martin most likely stole the archives just by walking through the front door.
"The security service does spot checks on bags and wallets of people leaving the service, but no one checks what's in the pockets," said one former employee, who spent nearly 30 years with the service in various posts before leaving last week. decade.
"Anything that could fit in a pocket and could go undetected," the former NSA employee continued.
A second employee, who left the office at about the same time, agreed.
"Πρακτικά, δεν γίνεται να ελεγχθούν όλοι οι εργαζόμενοι. Σκεφτείτε λίγο το Ft. Meade, ανέφερε ο πρώην εργαζόμενος, υπαινισσόμενος πόσο κακό είναι το system security. About 30.000 employees work at the NSA headquarters in Ft. Meade of Maryland. It would take hours to check every person leaving the building.
Ένας δεύτερος πρώην εργαζόμενος ανέφερε ότι η συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των υπαλλήλων περνούν από εκτεταμένες συνεντεύξεις πριν εργαστούν, και έτσι υπάρχει μια εγγενής πίστη στο προσωπικό της υπηρεσίας. Ο James Clapper, διευθυντής της Εθνικής Υπηρεσίας Πληροφοριών, ανέφερε το 2014 ότι δεν υπήρχαν "mousetraps" ή ποντικοπαγίδες για να πιάσουν ένα άλλο Snowden, επειδή η ασφάλεια της υπηρεσίας "βασίζεται στην προσωπική εμπιστοσύνη."
The indictment does not say exactly how Martin stole the data from NSA computers and servers, as these systems (work) are a seven-secret secret to national security.
When asked, the former employees reported:
«Με βάση αυτά που πήρε, φαίνεται ότι [ο Martin] θα πρέπει να χρησιμοποίησε δίσκους USB," δήλωσε ο πρώτος υπάλληλος. Το μέγεθος του χώρου αποθήκευσης των USB έχει αυξηθεί κατά τις τελευταίες δύο δεκαετίες, και σύμφωνα με τα στοιχεία η κλοπή του Martin ήταν μια επίπονη αργή διαδικασία.
The second official said it wouldn't be difficult to steal the data, noting that the NSA has "some of the best hackers on earth."
There are many parallels with the Snowden case, mainly because it has not yet been known how he managed to extract the data from the NSA systems.
Όμως, σύμφωνα με μια έκθεση, ο Snowden χρειάστηκε "λίγα drives και την προθυμία να εκμεταλλευτεί μια μαύρη τρύπα σε ένα απαρχαιωμένο σύστημα ασφαλείας." Μία πηγή τότε ανέφερε ότι η NSA το 2013 είχε "κολλήσει στην τεχνολογία του 2003."
"I'm pretty sure he could find a way to do it without being detected," the former employee said, adding that the systems would likely not have been able to stop the leak of "specialized confidential information."
Στο κατηγορητήριο ο Martin φαίνεται να καυχήθηκε σε μια επιστολή που βρέθηκε από το FBI ότι έχει "δει λίγο πολύ όλα τα tech μυστικά του COMPUSEC [της NSA]."
He said the NSA systems were not as safe as it is believed to be.
However, little is known about Martin. According to page at LinkedIn, spent many years as a partner and consultant, and worked as a consultant for technical studies at the Department of Defense.
