Ex-CIA officer sentenced to 40 years in prison for leaking secret hacking tools to WikiLeaks Joshua Schulte was jailed for leaking the CIA’s ‘Vault 7’ tools. It’s a tool that hacks smartphones and turns them into sound eavesdropping devices. He is also guilty of possessing child sexual exploitation images.
In 2017, 35-year-old Schulte leaked 8,761 documents to WikiLeaks. The US Department of Justice says it is the largest leak in the history of the CIA.
Schulte denied the allegations, but Schulte was convicted of various charges in trials held in 2020, 2022, and 2023. On Thursday, he was convicted of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI and possessing child abuse images.
US Attorney Damian Williams said Joshua Schultz betrayed his country by carrying out the worst espionage in American history.
Schulte was a software developer at the Center for Cyber Intelligence, a division that conducts cyber espionage operations against foreign governments and terrorist organizations. In 2016, he turned over information to WikiLeaks and concealed his role from FBI officials.
Lawyers say Schulte has been unable to meet deadlines, delaying the completion of work at the office. After this, he also had the nickname ‘Drifting Deadline’. The lawyers also alleged that he leaked the information to punish those who wronged him.
Since 2017, WikiLeaks has started releasing classified information. The release of the information severely challenged the CIA’s efforts to collect classified information and posed a threat to CIA personnel and programs. This also led to huge financial losses.
FBI officials spoke with Schulte several times that day, but he did not reveal his role. A subsequent search of Schulte’s home revealed a collection of child sexual exploitation material. He has been in jail since 2018.
Content Highlights: Joshua Schulte, Wikileaks, CIA hacker, 40 years in prison,
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