US: Ex-Contractor Committed 'Breathtaking' Theft of Secrets
BALTIMORE, Md. (WJZ)-- A NSA contractor from Glen Burnie is now accused in the largest security breach in U.S. history. Court documents reveal the astounding amount of top secret information found inside Harold Martin's Anne Arundel County property.
Prosecutors say the theft of material happened over a 20 year period and the amount of data they found is breathtaking.
When FBI agents raided the home of Martin, neighbors were shocked.
"Nobody knew what he did in the neighborhood. It's definitely a shock," said one neighbor.
Now we're learning what was uncovered inside. According to court records, investigators confiscated thousands of pages of documents as well as dozens of computers and digital storage devices.
The Associated Press says handwritten notes detailing the NSA's classified computer infrastructure were also found. All of it-- equaling multiple terabytes of information.
"There's nothing in recorded history that's even close to having this much information," said Steve Taomino of CC&A Strategic Media.
To give you an idea of just how much a terabyte is--just one terabyte of information is equal to about one million books.
The feds began investigating when an organization called the "Shadow Brokers' tried to sell NSA hacking tools on the web.
Taormino, a cyber security expert says the group may have used Martin to access them.
"My guess is the Shadow Brokers were profiling him. Figured out that this guy is taking information home for one reason or another and they just decided to target him," said Taormino.
Taormino says those kind of tools in the wrong hands could be devastating.
"Other governments can use that information to try and find weaknesses in not only our defense systems but in everything that supports our country from the cyber realm," said Taormino.
Now NSA officials are trying to figure out how this could have been going on For so long with no one noticing. Martin is expected to appear in federal court for a detention hearing Friday afternoon.
Martin's attorneys have maintained he meant no harm to the USA.
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