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Three former U.S. government cyber spies who hacked and snooped on American equipment for the United Arab Emirates government have been banned from participating in international arms exports under a deal with Uncle Sam.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ryan Adams [PDF]Marc Baier [PDF] and Daniel Glick [PDF]all three former NSA agents, will be “Disqualification“, meaning they are barred from engaging in any activity under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for three years. After three years, if they choose to do so, they can submit a request to the State Department to resume work.
But given that these individuals are accused of providing UAE government agencies with hacking services targeting U.S. devices and users (for example, by getting paid to hack into targeted devices and steal data), it’s safe to assume that any such requests would be quickly denied.
“Disqualification, a fancy word for a ban on doing business, can actually be a significant sanction because it could amount to a death sentence for the company involved,” said attorney Bryan Cunningham, an advisory board member for data security firm Theon Technology. register.
The company involved is a notorious UAE security firm dark matterwhich came to light in 2019 following a Reuters investigation Crow Project.
While DarkMatter claims its intelligence gathering is strictly defensive security, former U.S. intelligence operatives recruit The secretive group said it spied on politicians, journalists, members of the local royal family and some emails from Michelle Obama on behalf of paying clients.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice [PDF]Adams, Baier and Gericke all worked as senior managers at DarkMatter and provided hacking services to the UAE government between 2016 and 2019, including deploying zero-click exploits to install spyware on targeted devices.
That’s where the State Department fits in. Carrying out these cyber mercenary operations for the UAE constitutes “defense service”, which requires permission from the State Department. However, according to Uncle Sam, the trio were not licensed for these services, and due to their circumstances and ties to the United States, should have been given the necessary paperwork.
A year ago, Adams, Baier and Gericke reached a first-of-its-kind transaction Under the U.S. government, the DOJ agreed to drop the prosecution, and the individuals agreed to collectively pay $1,685,000; cooperate fully with the U.S. government; waive all foreign and U.S. security clearances from seeking the latter; and accept restrictions on future employment.
The trio also agreed that they did not contest the charges against them.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the State Department’s recent sanctions on the three.
“The State Department and federal prosecutors have broad discretion in export control cases — and for good reason,” Cunningham said. “These decisions often involve balancing competing government interests, including not only enforcing U.S. law, but also our diplomacy and diplomatic relations, support for U.S. allies, and protecting intelligence and law enforcement sources and methods.”
The case is notable, he said, because the Fed publicly named the country, which also happens to be an ally of the United States, and they dug up the people. He added: “It could also be that the government does not want to risk leaking government secrets if the criminal prosecution is already at trial.” ®
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