The US National Security Agency (NSA) is well known for performing extensive surveillance in the name of national security, building up vast swathes of data in the process. But what happens when an employee tries to steal some of this data?
They’d get caught by an FBI sting operation if a recent press release from the United States Department of Justice is anything to go by.
The employee in question is 30-year-old Jareh Sebastian Dalke of Colorado Springs, who worked as an Information Systems Security Designer for the NSA between June 6 and July 1, 2022. An FBI affidavit says that Dalke used an encrypted email to transfer excerpts of three classified documents he obtained during his employment to someone he believed was working for a foreign government. This foreign government worker was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Dalke first contacted this would-be foreign government worker on July 29, telling them he had documents concerning the foreign targeting of U.S. systems, information on US cyber operations, and more. To prove that he had this information in his possession, he sent excerpts of the documents. Each excerpt had classification markings, one being classified as Secret while the other two were marked as Top Secret. Dalke told the agent that he would be able to send more information in the future when he returned to Washington. Although he was not working for the NSA at this time, he re-applied to work there again in August 2022.
Dalke requested $85,000 in cryptocurrency in exchange for the classified documents. The undercover FBI agent sent a preliminary cryptocurrency payment of $4,800, which Dalke then sent to a Kraken exchange account and converted it into US dollars to withdraw. Although the affidavit does not mention the specific cryptocurrency, The Verge has hypothesized it was likely the Monero coin, based on its price per unit in late August 2022. Monero is a privacy-focused coin often used for fraudulent crypto transactions.
Once Dalke received the first payment, the two parties arranged to transmit the documents in a public place over a secure connection that the “foreign government worker” set up. They decided on a location in Denver, where Dalke was subsequently arrested on September 28.
Dalke has been charged with three counts of violating The Espionage act, which criminalizes the transmission or attempted transmission of classified information to a foreign nation that could be used against the United States. If found guilty, Dalke could face life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Cora is a digital copywriter for SSLs.com. Having eight years of experience in online content creation, she is a versatile writer with an interest in a wide variety of topics, ranging from technology to marketing.