Would-Be Akamai Spy Busted By Feds 171
itwbennett writes "Elliot Doxer, an Akamai Technologies staffer, was charged on Wednesday with wire fraud. The case began in June 2006 when Doxer sent an e-mail to the consulate of a foreign country (referred to as 'country X') in which he 'expressed his desire to help that country with whatever information he could obtain in his position,' according to an article on ITworld. 'The foreign consulate that Doxer contacted turned his e-mail over to law enforcement authorities, and a little over a year later, he was contacted by an FBI agent posing as a representative of 'country X.' Over the next 18 months, Doxer left confidential business information such as customer lists and contracts at a designated spot called a dead drop, acts captured via video surveillance.'"
Re:An Analog 'Dead Drop'? (Score:5, Informative)
It made him feel more like a secret agent, so they humored him.
It doesn't look like espionage was his goal. From the article:
He also seemed preoccupied with ill will toward his ex-wife, writing at one point that "not enough bad things can happen to her if you know what I mean." And he offered to drop his request for monetary compensation in return for information or pictures of his son.
It sounds like it was more about retribution. His ex-wife apparently disappeared in "Country X" with their son.
Israel? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Entrapment (Score:3, Informative)
Re:for those who wonder what the hell akamai might (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What kind of moron (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like "Country X" was Israel (Score:3, Informative)
"I am a Jewish American who lives in Boston," Doxer reportedly wrote in an e-mail to a foreign country's consulate in Boston. "I know you are always looking for information and I am offering the little I may have."
Doxer, who had access to invoices and customer contact information, also said in a later message that his goal was "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies."
He informed the agent that his company served the U.S. Department of Defense, Airbus and several Arab companies. Doxer reportedly asked for $3,000 in compensation for his actions.
Re:for those who wonder what the hell akamai might (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure I'm getting part of this wrong, because it's been about ten years since I sat through a presentation by an Akamai dude in the waning dot-com days, but their main offering was a sort of content caching/mirroring system with servers all over the place to back it up.
So for example, you're Fox and you sign up to have your streaming TV episodes "Akamaized". The day after a new episode of American Idol is posted to the web, probably a lot of people are downloading/streaming it. Akamai's setup would automatically mirror it out to a bunch of local servers all over the place, so in theory, no matter where you the watcher are, you're streaming from a server a low number of hops/latency from you, and you're not slashdotting Fox's own servers.
Re:Israel? (Score:4, Informative)
Israel?
Yes: Here's another Source that indicates Israel: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=190523 [jpost.com]
Re:Good job FBI (Score:3, Informative)
Gathering proper evidence, getting proper legal documentation, talking with his employers, and getting several drops to see what information he was willing to give up.
You now, due process and getting solid evidence.
In the real world, you don't go around accusing people and then arrest the one that tries to kill you*, you don't drive a fast sports car until some shoots at you, and you don't other evidence from a magic computer in 22 minutes.
*AKA: The Charlie Angels school of crime fighting.
Re:An Analog 'Dead Drop'? (Score:5, Informative)
Treason can (very unlikely) face the death penalty.
Re:Think of it in Reverse (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Israel? (Score:4, Informative)
It seems plausible.
http://www.searchboston.com/boston_directory/Gov/Foreign_Consulates_in_Boston/ [searchboston.com]
Australia - Consulate Boston
Austria - Consulate Boston
Canada - Consulate Boston
Germany - Consulate Boston
Hungary - Consulate Boston
Israel - Consulate Boston
Mexico - Consulate Boston
Norway - Consulate Boston
Portugal - Consulate Boston
Sweden - Consulate Boston
Venezuela - Consulate Boston
Israel would seem the more likely option, and certainly a country to engender the "homeland" feeling.
Re:An Analog 'Dead Drop'? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What kind of moron (Score:3, Informative)
Honestly have you not paid attention to what has been happening here?
Your laptop needs to be empty, sanitized, clean. put all important stuff on a memory device you can smuggle in on your person or in a different way (memory card in a camera get's past our idiot guards)... Treat coming here like entering North Korea.
Most people have known this for years that entering the United states is identical to entering a fascist dictatorship country.
Re:An Analog 'Dead Drop'? (Score:2, Informative)