US defense contractor who sold hacking tools to Russian broker ordered to pay $10M to former employers

美国国防承包商向俄罗斯中间商出售黑客工具，被判向原雇主赔偿 1000 万美元

Peter Williams, a veteran cybersecurity executive who was the head of the hacking and surveillance tech division of U.S. defense contractor L3Harris, has been ordered to pay $10 million to his former employer. Williams was the central figure in one of the worst leaks of advanced hacking tools in the history of the United States and its closest allies. 彼得·威廉姆斯（Peter Williams）是一位资深的网络安全高管，曾担任美国国防承包商 L3Harris 公司黑客与监控技术部门的负责人。他已被法院判令向其前雇主赔偿 1000 万美元。威廉姆斯是美国及其最亲密盟友历史上最严重的先进黑客工具泄露事件的核心人物。

On Wednesday, a judge ordered Williams to pay that amount in restitution on top of the $1.3 million he had already been ordered to pay to L3Harris. Williams, a 39-year-old Australian citizen who previously worked in one of Australia’s intelligence agencies, was until last year the general manager of Trenchant. 周三，法官下令威廉姆斯支付这笔赔偿金，这还不包括此前已判令他向 L3Harris 支付的 130 万美元。现年 39 岁的威廉姆斯是澳大利亚公民，曾供职于澳大利亚情报机构，直到去年他一直担任 Trenchant 公司的总经理。

Born out of the acquisition of two sister startups, Trenchant is L3Harris’ division that develops advanced spyware and hacking tools and sells them to the U.S. government and its allies in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, a coalition of five English-speaking nations that share classified intelligence with one another. In addition to the U.S., the alliance includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Trenchant 由两家姊妹初创公司合并而成，是 L3Harris 旗下的部门，专门开发先进的间谍软件和黑客工具，并将其出售给美国政府及其“五眼联盟”（Five Eyes）盟友。该联盟由五个共享机密情报的英语国家组成，除美国外，还包括澳大利亚、加拿大、新西兰和英国。

Veteran cybersecurity reporter Kim Zetter first reported the new order to pay restitution in her newsletter. Williams’ lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. 资深网络安全记者金·泽特（Kim Zetter）在其通讯中首次报道了这一新的赔偿令。威廉姆斯的律师未回应置评请求。

Last year, Williams was arrested and accused of stealing seven unspecified trade secrets — almost certainly cyber exploits, which is code that hijacks software vulnerabilities, and surveillance technology — from Trenchant and then selling them to Operation Zero. The Russian firm acts as a broker, buying and selling hacking tools, and it says it works exclusively with the Russian government and local companies. Williams pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. 去年，威廉姆斯被捕，并被指控从 Trenchant 窃取了七项未公开的商业机密（几乎可以确定是网络漏洞利用程序——即劫持软件漏洞的代码，以及监控技术），随后将其出售给 Operation Zero。这家俄罗斯公司充当中间商，买卖黑客工具，并声称其仅与俄罗斯政府及当地企业合作。威廉姆斯已认罪，并被判处七年多监禁。

Williams made $1.3 million selling the trade secrets, which he used to buy luxury watches, a house near Washington, D.C., and family vacations. Trenchant told prosecutors that it suffered losses of up to $35 million due to Williams’ theft. 威廉姆斯通过出售这些商业机密获利 130 万美元，并用这些钱购买了奢侈手表、华盛顿特区附近的房产以及支付家庭度假费用。Trenchant 向检察官表示，由于威廉姆斯的盗窃行为，公司损失高达 3500 万美元。

U.S. prosecutors said Williams “betrayed” the United States and its allies by giving Operation Zero, which the U.S. government calls “one of the world’s most nefarious exploit brokers,” tools that could have been used to hack “millions of computers and devices around the world.” 美国检察官表示，威廉姆斯“背叛”了美国及其盟友，他将这些工具提供给了 Operation Zero——美国政府称其为“世界上最恶劣的漏洞利用中间商之一”，而这些工具本可被用于入侵“全球数百万台计算机和设备”。

As TechCrunch previously reported, Williams took advantage of his privileged “full access” to Trenchant’s internal network to siphon the tools out of the company’s offices. After Williams sold the hacking tools to Operation Zero, some of them ended up being used by Russian government spies in Ukraine, and later Chinese cybercriminals, according to former L3Harris employees who recognized the stolen code in cybersecurity research that Google published after investigating the cyberattacks in which those tools were deployed. Williams also tried to frame one of his employees for the theft. 正如 TechCrunch 此前报道的那样，威廉姆斯利用其对 Trenchant 内部网络的特权“完全访问权限”，将这些工具从公司办公室窃取出来。据 L3Harris 的前员工称，在威廉姆斯将黑客工具出售给 Operation Zero 后，其中一些工具最终被俄罗斯政府间谍在乌克兰使用，后来又被中国网络犯罪分子使用。这些前员工在谷歌调查相关网络攻击并发布研究报告后，认出了其中被盗的代码。威廉姆斯还曾试图将盗窃罪名嫁祸给其下属。