A former CIA computer scientist was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for handing over cyberespionage tools to the WikiLeaks website in 2017, in the “biggest data leak” in US intelligence history, prosecutors said, citing AFP.

Joshua Schulte, 35, was convicted in July 2022 of eight counts of espionage. In September 2023, he was also convicted of possession of child pornography after a search of his home revealed a large collection of child pornography videos on his computers.

“Joshua Schulte betrayed his country in one of the most brazen acts of espionage in American history,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Thursday.

“Mr. Schulte caused serious harm to the national security of the United States and endangered the lives of CIA personnel by continuing his conduct even after his arrest,” Assistant Attorney General for Homeland Security Matthew Olsen said in 2017. in the text.

In 2016, while working for an elite cyber espionage unit, he began amassing a collection of hacking tools, malware and computer viruses called Vault 7.

WikiLeaks began publishing 8,761 documents in March 2017, putting the agency in dire straits and giving professional and amateur hackers around the world the same tools as US intelligence agents.

“The source wishes to open a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyber weapons,” WikiLeaks said at the time.

But the indictment alleges that Joshua Schulte’s motive was revenge against the CIA, whose leadership criticized her for not taking sides in internal conflicts.