New Book on Nicholson Spy Case

Harold Jim Nicholson

Jim Nicholson was a GS-15 CIA operations officer when he volunteered to spy for the Russian SVR intelligence service (shortly after another CIA officer, Rick Ames, was arrested in 1994). One of Nicholson’s job was training new CIA operations officers, and gave their names to the Russians. He was arrested in 1996. Later, while in jail, […]

How to Create Awareness of the Insider Threat

(CIO/Ira Winkler) One of the legacies of Edward Snowden’s treason is that companies are now concerned about the insider threat more than they ever were before. He demonstrates that a single person inside an organization can devastate the organization. While technology should have caught Snowden, there is also the realization that his coworkers and managers […]

Insider Threat Awareness Growing But Action Lacking

(HStoday) Although the insider threat is on the radar for most organizations, many are repeatedly failing to take the necessary steps to prevent an attack, according to a recent report sponsored by SpectorSoft and conducted by the SANS Institute. The report, Insider Threats and the Need for a Fast and Directed Response, surveyed 772 IT security […]

US Army National Guard Soldier Arrested for Conspiring to Support Terrorism (ISIL)

US Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, a U.S. citizen, was arrested at Chicago Midway International Airport while attempting to fly to Cairo, Egypt. He is charged with allegedly conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign terrorist organization. His cousin, who planned on shooting up to 150 military […]

Careless/Untrained Insiders are Biggest Threat

Sources of Security Threats

(NextGov) Rank-and-file federal employees and contractors unwilling to “embrace ‘The Suck’ of security” may be the biggest threat posed to securing federal agency networks. “Accidental or careless” insiders — employees who click on dubious email attachments, plug in unsecured storage devices or leave laptops unsecured, among other lapses in basic cyber hygiene — unwittingly open the door […]

Computer administrator at US military base pleads guilty to Espionage and Computer Fraud

(DOJ) Palm Beach County Resident Pleads Guilty Under the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for Accessing and Removing Classified Information from Military Computers Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George Piro for the FBI’s […]

Federal Employee Provided China with Sensitive Information on US Dams

(Washington Free Beacon) A federal weather service employee charged with stealing sensitive infrastructure data from an Army Corps of Engineers database met a Chinese government official in Beijing, according to court documents that reveal the case to be part of an FBI probe of Chinese economic espionage. Xiafen “Sherry” Chen, an employee of the National […]

More on Navy engineer trying to sell aircraft carrier secrets

Navy engineer accused in carrier plot attended Old Dominion University, lived in York subdivision (Daily Press) The Navy engineer accused of attempting to sell design drawings of America’s newest aircraft carrier to the Egyptian government lived with his family in a well-known York County subdivision and received a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University last […]

Defense Contractor charged with trying to take US military documents to China

(Reuters) A former Connecticut resident and Chinese citizen who allegedly worked on the F135 engine was charged with trying to take sensitive documents about military technology to China, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday. Yu Long was en route to China in November via Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey where customs […]

Navy engineer indicted for trying to sell secrets

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad

(Navy Times) A naturalized American citizen working for the Navy was arrested Friday for attempting to sell technical information about the nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford to an agent of the Egyptian government. The agent, however, was a federal undercover agent working for the FBI. According to documents from the Justice Department, a federal […]

Seeking A Way Out: The Jeffery Delisle Espionage Case, Part III

(NOIR For USA) When the prison doors shut on insider spy and former Canadian Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jeffery Delisle, he left behind four children and a budding relationship with a woman who loved him. Delisle had a history of marital and financial problems that included declaring bankruptcy and discovering his wife’s adultery, which created the conditions […]

“They Had a Photo of My Children”: The Jeffery Delisle Case, Part II

(NOIR For USA) If it was former Canadian Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jeffery Delisle’s intention to free himself of the burden of his financial troubles and to take some decisive action to counter his sense of helplessness when faced with the collapse of his marriage, any relief he may have felt after volunteering his services to the […]

A Psychological Perfect Storm: The Jeffery Delisle Case, Part I

Jeffrey Delisle

(NOIR For USA) By all accounts, there’s nothing exceptional about former Canadian Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jeffery Delisle, certainly nothing that would suggest a future as a convicted insider spy. A high school friend described him as the “sort of person who just blended into the background.”  If he was notable in high school for anything, it was […]