Security News > 2020 > March > Coder Charged in Massive CIA Leak Portrayed as Vindictive
A software engineer on trial in the largest leak of classified information in CIA history was "Prepared to do anything" to betray the agency, federal prosecutors said Monday as a defense attorney argued the man had been scapegoated for a breach that exposed secret cyberweapons and spying techniques.
A Manhattan jury heard conflicting portrayals of Joshua Schulte, a former CIA coder accused of sending the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks a large portion of the agency's computer hacking arsenal - tools the agency had used to conduct espionage operations overseas.
The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA would hack Apple and Android cellphones in overseas spying operations.
Prosecutors have said the leak was devastating to national security, as it exposed CIA operatives, brought intelligence gathering to a halt and left allies wondering whether the U.S. could be trusted with sensitive information.
Prosecutors said a sequence of subterfuge implicated Schulte, including deleting computer logs from his CIA work station and restoring administrator privileges from which the agency had stripped him.