Security News > 2022 > October > FBI: We tracked who was printing secret documents to unmask ex-NSA suspect

The FBI alleges it then followed the money as it moved from a cryptocurrency exchange to the NSA staffer's personal bank account.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, who was employed at the NSA as an information security systems designer from June 6 to July 1, allegedly began communicating with what he believed to be a foreign agent on July 29, according to a statement from the Department of Justice announcing his arrest in Denver on September 28.

According to an FBI affidavit the suspect was communicating with an undercover FBI agent via an encrypted foreign email service, that, while legitimate, is also used by cybercriminals.

"Dalke represented to the undercover FBI agent that he was still employed by the US government but said he was on a temporary assignment at a field location."

Dalke was tied to the email account used to communicate with the FBI agent and to send the documents after investigators scouring historical user activity on NSA systems claim they found that his user account had printed all four of the classified documents.

The agency claims that Dalke - a resident of Colorado Springs - converted the crypto into dollars, and withdrew the dollars from the exchange on August 9, and three days later deposited the same amount of money into a bank account in Colorado, according to the FBI affidavit.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/10/03/nsa_worker_fbi_espionage/