One of the most difficult cybersecurity issues concerns predicting insider threats -- identifying the person or persons in your organization who are likely to divulge personal data or intellectual property. The U.S. Department of Justice issued this press release recently:
A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty today to retaining and
transmitting Top Secret National Defense Information to people who were not
entitled to receive it, information which was publicly posted on a social media
platform in October 2024.
According to court documents, Asif William Rahman, 34, of
Vienna, was an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security
clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).
. . .
According to court documents, on Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman
accessed and printed two Top Secret documents containing National Defense
Information regarding a U.S. foreign ally and its planned actions against a
foreign adversary. Rahman removed the documents, photographed them, and
transmitted them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them. By
Oct. 18, 2024, the documents appeared publicly on multiple social media
platforms, complete with the classification markings.
After Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman deleted and edited journal
entries and written work product on his personal electronic devices to conceal
his personal opinions on U.S. policy and drafted entries to construct a false
narrative regarding his activity. Rahman also destroyed multiple electronic
devices, including a personal mobile device and an internet router he used to
transmit classified information and photographs of classified documents, and
discarded the destroyed devices in public trash receptacles in an effort to
thwart potential investigations into him and his unlawful conduct.
Beginning in the spring of 2024 and continuing through
November 2024, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified National
Defense Information, including documents classified up to the Top Secret level,
to take them to his residence. There, Rahman reproduced the documents and,
while doing so, altered them in an effort to conceal their source and his
activity. Rahman then communicated Top Secret information that he learned in
the course of his employment to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled
to receive it.
Rahman was indicted by a grand jury on Nov. 7, 2024, and was
arrested by the FBI as he arrived to work on Nov. 12, 2024. He has remained in
custody since his arrest.
Rahman pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and
transmission of classified information related to the national defense. He is
scheduled to be sentenced on May 15, 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of 10
years in prison for both counts in the plea agreement. A federal district court
judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing
Guidelines and other statutory factors.
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