US EditionUS Issues Cyber Sanctions over Sale of Sensitive Exploit Tools, Stolen Trade Secrets
- On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, Peter Williams, 39-year-old Australian, former general manager of Trenchant, was sentenced to 87 months in U.S. prison for selling trade secrets to a Russian broker.
- Williams admitted stealing eight zero-day exploits from Trenchant between 2022 and 2025, exploiting his access as general manager and his background at the Australian Signals Directorate.
- A judge ordered Peter Williams to forfeit $US1.3 million and surrender a house, watches and jewellery bought with cryptocurrency payments, prosecutors said.
- The U.S. Department of Justice estimated the theft caused $35 million in losses, and a restitution hearing is scheduled for May; the U.S. Treasury and U.S. State Department announced sanctions against Operation Zero and Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk on Tuesday.
- Officials said the tools could have accessed millions of digital devices, and those capabilities were meant for restricted use by the U.S. government and Five Eyes partners, affecting allied intelligence capabilities.
49 Articles
49 Articles
US sanctions Russian and UAE figures over cyber activity
The US on Tuesday imposed cyber-related sanctions on four individuals and three entities, including some based in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Treasury Department website. The entities and people were targeted "for their acquisition and distribution of cyber tools harmful to US national security", the Treasury Department said in a statement. In a corresponding move, the US Department of State said one of the individuals …
The U.S. authorities announced Tuesday the imposition of sanctions against three entities and four persons of Russian nationality who are accused of distributing digital tools “damaged for (their) security” to take “commercial secrets” from U.S. citizens. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) thus sanctioned a man identified as Sergei Sergeievich Zelenyuk and his company ‘Matrix LLC’ (Operation Zero), in addition to f…
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