Couple charged with leaking US nuclear sub designs • The Register

The United States Department of Justice has announced a leak of information related to the design of the Virginia-class nuclear submarine and the arrest of the alleged leaks.

A court filing and message It is alleged that a man named Jonathan Toby, a Navy officer who served as a nuclear engineer, contacted a foreign force and offered to sell “Limited data on the design of a nuclear warship.”

This foreign force shared communication with the FBI’s legal attaché, which ended in a letter sent by Toebbe in April 2020. The letter included some US Navy documents and instructions on how to create a security channel between a foreign country and Toebbe.

“Please send this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation,” the letter said, helpfully adding “This is not a scam” – because it reads as it should. either.

Looks like the FBI has decided to get Toby in order. After some back-and-forth secrets, lots of encrypted emails, and a $ 10,000 cryptocurrency payment, Toebbe and his wife, Diana, loaded the relevant information onto an SD card and left her dead.

“The SD card was wrapped in plastic and placed between two slices of bread on half of the peanut butter sandwich,” the Justice Department’s crime complaint said.

Another SD card, hidden in a chewing gum package, was later delivered. After that delivery, another $ 70,000 was sent to Toebbe in crypto.

After each delivery, Toebbe sends a decryption key. The keys worked, and the FBI determined that the maps contained “Limited data related to underwater nuclear reactors.”

Toebbes was arrested and charged on October 9.

The accused couple used ProtonMail to communicate with their “buyer” and used the nickname “Alice” in letters to their “buyer”. The FBI, showing a tiny network and cryptographic understanding, uses the nickname “Bob” to respond.

Toebbes liked the information Bob gave them, especially when dead drop measures were proposed, praising the care the buyer took.

The FBI is also keeping the couple at bay, paying them a lot of money – a $ 110,000 Monero is making its way from the Bureau to Toebbes, which advises the cryptocurrency to offer “excellent rejection.”

During the correspondence between Alice and Bob, it is alleged that Jonathan Toby explained how he obtained the information about the restrictions as follows:

Some security officials are unlikely to receive a pay rise this year.

But at least this staff isn’t alone in failing to protect the escaped military secrets: the administrators of the War Thunder car fighting forums had to I remind posters not to share secret documents after a former member of the French army claims to have shared a guide to the Leclerc battle tank to settle a dispute over whether his performance was presented correctly in the game. ®

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