U.S. Hackers Assist UAE

Three former U.S. intelligence operatives who worked as cyber spies for the United Arab Emirates admitted violating U.S. hacking laws and prohibitions on selling sensitive military technology under a deal to avoid prosecution announced on Tuesday. The operatives - Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Gericke - were part of a clandestine unit named Project Raven that helped the UAE spy on its enemies. At the behest of the UAE’s monarchy, the Project Raven team hacked into the accounts of human rights activists, journalists, and rival governments. The team used a sophisticated cyberweapon called “Karma” that allowed the UAE to hack into Apple ($AAPL@US) iPhones and access tens of millions of devices. The system qualified as an intelligence-gathering system under federal export control rules. But the operatives did not obtain the required U.S. government permission to sell the tool to the UAE, authorities said. Former Raven operatives believed they were on the right side of the law because, Baier said, supervisors told them the NSA approved the mission, which was regularly briefed on Raven’s activities.