Information security

US spies bilked for $100,000 by Russian peddling Trump secrets: report

A Russian man promising stolen hacking tools and compromising information on President Donald Trump fleeced American spies for $100,000 last year, The New York Times reported Friday.

In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB-drive handovers in a small West Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over the National Security Agency's Twitter account, CIA agents reportedly spent much of last year trying to buy back from the Russian hacking programs stolen from the NSA.

The seller, who was not identified but had links to both cyber criminals and Russian intelligence, tantalized the US spies with an offer of the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a shady group called the Shadow Brokers.

Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of US rivals, were used by other hackers last year to break into computer systems around the world, including the global malware attack last May.

The seller, reached through a chain of intermediaries, wanted $1 million.

The $100,000, delivered in a cash-stuffed suitcase handed over in a Berlin hotel room, was an initial payment by US agents still dubious he really had what he was promising.