NSA contractor held for lifting Iran, Russia hacking codes — report

5 October 2016, 8:10 pm

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A contractor for the US’s National Security Agency was recently arrested by the FBI over suspicions he stole and gave away secret computer codes used to hack into Iran, Russia and other foreign governments, The New York Times reports.

The contractor worked for consulting firm Booz Allen, much like Edward Snowden, behind the last high-profile hack of the NSA, but the info he stole is not thought to be related to data disclosed by Snowden, according to the report, which cites several senior US officials.

The codes stolen by the contractor were used to break into computer systems in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, according to the Times, and were considered highly classified.