[12][44] Flaws in Microsoft and VMware products allowed the attackers to access emails and other documents,[23][24][14][15] and to perform federated authentication across victim resources via single sign-on infrastructure. We look back at the biggest stories of the year By Alex Scroxton, Security Editor. [37], In 1994, Hanssen expressed interest in a transfer to the new National Counterintelligence Center, which coordinated counterintelligence activities. [27][26] FireEye gave the suspects the placeholder name "UNC2452";[70][14] incident response firm Volexity called them "Dark Halo". Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. [1] The NSA is not known to have been aware of the attack before being notified by FireEye. Xi Jinping tells China's national security chiefs to prepare for 'worst case' scenarios . The Russian officer, who evidently did not recognize the code name, drove away. Many believe that John Walker's actions were the biggest security breach of the Cold War. Top 10 Cases Of Espionage Against The US - Toptenz.net New Zealand-born journalist Nancy Wake joined the French Resistance to help British soldiers escape France in the early 1940s. The embassy denied him, and he pled guilty of conspiring to commit espionage and was sentenced to life in prison. The FBI waited two more days to see if any of Hanssen's SVR handlers would show up at Foxstone Park. This is classic espionage. Whitworth received a 365-year sentence. Two of the offices, in Manhattan and Brooklyn, handle many prominent investigations of white-collar crime, as well as of people close to former president Trump. Convicted American spy Jonathan Pollard, 61, was released from a North Carolina federal prison in Butner on November 20, 2015, thirty years after he was caught selling classified U.S. information to Israel, an American ally. While there were too many incidents to choose from, here is a list of 10 of the biggest cyber attacks of 2020, in chronological order. The Russians then filed an official protest with the U.S State Department, believing Hanssen to be a triple agent. Ten Worst Cases Of Espionage Against America Have Chinese Spies Infiltrated American Campuses? All four members in the spy ring were convicted. Espionage case called one of worst ever - UPI Archives However, two casesthe Bloch investigation and the embassy tunnelremained unsolved. Accused of being a double agent, Hari was executed by a French firing squad in 1917. 5. He moved on from the KGB to Russian Intelligence in 1999, but was arrested in 2001 while making a drop. William H. Dobbs (Captain) [1] Clment Gosselin. But he didn't do it alone. [121][122][123], On January 5, 2021, CISA, the FBI, the NSA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, all confirmed that they believe Russia was the most likely culprit. [87] This access apparently helped them to hunt for certificates that would let them sign SAML tokens, allowing them to masquerade as legitimate users to additional on-premises services and to cloud services like Microsoft Azure Active Directory. [48] The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advised that affected devices be rebuilt from trusted sources, and that all credentials exposed to SolarWinds software should be considered compromised and should therefore be reset. Benjamin Edes. The agents working for him reported this breach to a supervisor, but no action was taken. [24] Yuzhin had returned to Moscow in 1982 and had been subject to an intensive investigation by the KGB due to having lost a concealed camera in the Soviet consulate in San Francisco, but he was not arrested until being exposed by Ames and Hanssen. [66] Hanssen took the risk of recommending to his handlers that they try to recruit his closest friend, a colonel in the United States Army. John Walker Jr. was a naval officer when he turned against the United States and decided to side with the Soviet Union, handing them military documents and other classified information. Born in Paris to British parents, Cecile Witherington (also referred to as Genevieve Touzalin or Pearl Cornioley) wanted to do her part to help France escape German control during World War I. Witherington, a trained Special Operations Executive, began as a covert courier smuggling weapons into France in 1943. [123], Simply downloading a compromised version of Orion was not necessarily sufficient to result in a data breach; further investigation was required in each case to establish whether a breach resulted. One of the most notorious spies in American history will walk out of prison by the end of the year. The attackers exploited flaws in Microsoft products, services, and software distribution infrastructure. [250], Writing for The Dispatch, Goldsmith wrote that the failure of defense and deterrence strategies against cyber-intrusion should prompt consideration of a "mutual restraint" strategy, "whereby the United States agrees to curb certain activities in foreign networks in exchange for forbearance by our adversaries in our networks. Pitts was the second FBI agent to mention Hanssen by name as a possible mole, but superiors were still unconvinced, and no action was taken. In the world of espionage, ignoring mistakes or history can have a devastating impact on future national security. [9], The Hanssen spy case was told in David Wise's book Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America, published by Random House in 2002. She claims she was unaware of her son's involvement. Hanssen then began to videotape his sexual encounters secretly and shared the videotapes with Hoschouer. His espionage operation was one of the worst in American history, and he was eventually arrested in 1985. 2There is nothing in the damage assessment that speaks of damage . Why Trump's Declassification Argument Doesn't Matter in the DOJ's Case This category has the following 9 subcategories, out of 9 total. She modeled lingerie and joined a board associated with President Vladimir Putin's party. [158][69][159] The FBI, CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) formed a Cyber Unified Coordination Group (UCG) to coordinate their efforts. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesJonathan Pollard, the American convicted of spying for Israel, leaves a New York court house following his release from prison after 30 years on November 20, 2015 in New York, New York. Waguespack listened to the tape again and recognized the voice as belonging to Hanssen. Former FBI Special Agent John C. Wagner oversaw the arrest of John Walker, and in June 1986, he told the New York Times that the agency is still trying to find out how it was possible for a low-level sailor to run a spy ring for almost 20 years. Hanssen restarted communications the next year and continued until his arrest. retirement system warned it may have been target of Russian hack; Cox also investigating", "Four security vendors disclose SolarWinds-related incidents", "Cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes was hacked by 'Dark Halo,' the same group that breached SolarWinds last year", "Suspected Russian Hackers Targeted Cyber Firm Malwarebytes", "Malwarebytes says some of its emails were breached by SolarWinds hackers", "Exclusive: Microsoft breached in suspected Russian hack using SolarWinds sources", "Microsoft confirms it was also breached in recent SolarWinds supply chain hack", "Microsoft Says Its Systems Were Exposed to SolarWinds Hack", "Microsoft was reportedly swept up in SolarWinds hack", "US nuke agency hacked by suspected Russian SolarWinds spies, Microsoft also installed backdoor", "Microsoft acknowledges it was hacked via SolarWinds exploit", "Microsoft, SolarWinds Hacking Can Be a National Security Issue? [69][1], The attackers hosted their command-and-control servers on commercial cloud services from Amazon, Microsoft, GoDaddy and others. American spies who did the worst damage to the US military U.S. Looking Into 'Unconfirmed' Reports Russia Has Opened Espionage Following a second betrayal by CIA mole Aldrich Ames in 1985, Polyakov was arrested in 1986 and executed in 1988. Michael Walker received a 25-year sentence and was eventually released in 2000. Fugitives wanted under the Espionage Act of 1917, People charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, People convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917, 2014 National Security Agency illegal seizure, D-Day Daily Telegraph crossword security alarm, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 2006 GeorgianRussian espionage controversy, 1979 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, 1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident, North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens, List of controversies involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Spying on United Nations leaders by United States diplomats, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Espionage_scandals_and_incidents&oldid=1008022574, Template Category TOC via CatAutoTOC on category with 101200 pages, CatAutoTOC generates standard Category TOC, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 21 February 2021, at 04:22. [60][62], Multiple attack vectors were used in the course of breaching the various victims of the incident.[63][64]. [42][43], The FBI and CIA formed a joint mole-hunting team in 1994 to find the suspected second intelligence leak. / CBS NEWS. [9][27][220] The NSC activated Presidential Policy Directive 41, an Obama-era emergency plan, and convened its Cyber Response Group. Study Espionage Cases. Toll Group tops the list for the year's worst cyber attacks because it was hit by ransomware twice in three months. One of the most famous and elusive spies in history, Dutch-born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, whose stage name was Mata Hari, acted as a spy during World War I. The exotic dancer was. [1][36][37] Affected organizations worldwide included NATO, the U.K. government, the European Parliament, Microsoft and others. The story of Madhuri Gupta, the Indian diplomat who became a spy for Pakistan. She was sentenced to three years in prison. After confirmation by the FBI CART Unit, Sullivan filed a report with the Office of Professional Responsibility requesting the further investigation of Hanssen's attempted hack. She delivered 12 important messages in the early 1900s, but in 1918, her work saved lives. A former CIA agent, Aldrich Ames turned against his country when he fell on hard times. [3], In 1989, Hanssen compromised the FBI investigation of Felix Bloch, a Department of State official who was suspected of espionage. the attacker used Microsoft vulnerabilities (initially) and SolarWinds supply chain attacks (later on) to achieve their goals. [76], Hanssen was the subject of a 2002 made-for-television movie, Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story, with a teleplay by Norman Mailer and starring William Hurt as Hanssen. Accordingly, Trump's lawyers should immediately move for what's called a motion in limine prohibiting the use of the word espionage by prosecutors, either inside the courtroom or outside it, but especially in front of the jury. [1], Some days later, on December 13, when breaches at the Treasury and Department of Commerce were publicly confirmed to exist, sources said that the FireEye breach was related. While time has placed a definite, physical distance between today and that era, the effects of some of the most infamous, traitorous American spies are not as distant as they may seem. "I have opened the door for calumny against my totally innocent wife and children. Major John Andr assisted Arnold's clandestine efforts to surrender the fort at West Point, New York, to the British during America's war for independence. With the mole finally identified, locations, dates, and cases were matched with Hanssen's activities during the period. During a battle that trapped more than 200 Americans behind enemy lines, Major Charles Whittlesey released the pigeon along with a message begging for help. John A. Walker, Jr., and his son, Michael, both Navy men, delivered key information to the Soviet Union from 1967 until 1985. [49][50][51], The FBI surveilled Hanssen and soon discovered he was again in contact with the Russians. He also believed he heard noises on his car radio that indicated it was bugged, although the FBI was later unable to reproduce the noises Hanssen claimed to have heard. A state supreme court in Duesseldorf found master spy Rainer Rupp guilty of treason Thursday and sentenced him to 12 years in prison, in what prosecutors said was the worst espionage case in the . Special counsel Jack Smith has formally requested a December trial date for the case involving Trump's alleged violations of the Espionage Act and other related federal crimes. Smith's team has also sent Trump's attorneys a list of witnesses and other information about the evidence that will be presented by the prosecution in that trial. All denied everything. [16][17][18] A supply chain attack on SolarWinds's Orion software, widely used in government and industry, provided another avenue, if the victim used that software. Titan Rain is the code name given to a series of cyber attacks on American computer systems which occurred in the early 2000s. [211][75], GoDaddy handed ownership to Microsoft of a command-and-control domain used in the attack, allowing Microsoft to activate a killswitch in the SUNBURST malware, and to discover which SolarWinds customers were infected.
