By Ed Pilkington The London Guardian NEW YORK — The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers. A Guardian investigation today reveals…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Being an FBI informant can be big bucks — even if you’re not the most angelic individual. In a murder trial in Douglas County, Nebraska, testimony surfaced that witness Jorge Palacios, a gang member, was paid more than $300,000 over five years from the FBI to help agents investigate drug trafficking,…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A non-profit website based in Atlanta that partners with the FBI and other organizations, and tracks cyber-crimes, was shut down Sunday after it was hacked, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The paper reported that InfraGard Atlanta, which partners with local business, government, academic security experts and the FBI, was hacked late last…
By Fred Grimm The Miami Herald Paul Philip may have been a dandy FBI agent back in the day. But as an author, his five-page thesis on the Miami Police Department delivered last week – for $4,000 a page – was an affront to us hack writers everywhere. Philip spent four months researching the travails…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Loaded for bear, federal prosecutors began their cross examination Thursday of the ever-chatty ex-Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich with a very blunt question. “Mr. Blagojevich, you are a convicted liar, correct?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar asked, according to the Chicago Tribune. “Yes,” answered Blagojevich, according to the Trib. His lawyers tried…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Portland prosecutors in the 2010 attempted bombing of a Christmas tree lighting ceremony to hand over a faulty FBI battery and recording device used in the case, The Oregonian newspaper reported. The prosecution said it already had turned over 6,000 pages of documents. The defense…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A 46-year-old FBI agent, who headed a major corruption probe in Clay County, Ky., died Tuesday from an apparent heart attack while jogging, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The paper reported that Timothy S. Briggs, 46, who had been an agent since 1997, suffered the heart attack while jogging with another agent…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — The Inspector General for the Securities and Exchange Commission discovered a big no no: A lawyer for the SEC allegedly disclosed the name of a confidential source in an FBI probe to a witness in the case, the Washington Post reported. The Post’s David Hilzenrath reports that a SEC…
