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WikiLeaks Sparks Insider Threat Debate for CIA

Posted: March 9th, 2017

The leak of documents allegedly describing secret CIA hacking techniques has shined a light on the intelligence agency’s use of contractors and its efforts to tackle the insider threat problem.

WikiLeaks published the documents on Tuesday, and the CIA has not confirmed the authenticity of the files. Little is known about the nature of the breach, but officials have told Reuters that intelligence agencies have known of it since late last year and that it is currently suspected to be the work of agency contractors. If that is the case, it would raise increased scrutiny on the Intelligence Community’s efforts to stop leaks like those of former government contractors and leakers Edward Snowden and Harold Martin, who removed classified information without authorization. The Cipher Brief spoke with its network experts to assess the alleged leak and its potential impact on contracting and insider threats.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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