Iran executed some of the CIA informants and imprisoned others in an intelligence setback that one of the former officials described as "Incredibly damaging." The CIA successfully exfiltrated some of its Iranian sources, said former officials.
The Iranian compromise led to significantly fewer CIA agents being killed than in China, according to former officials.
Though the Iranians didn't say precisely how they infiltrated the network, two former U.S. intelligence officials said that the Iranians cultivated a double agent who led them to the secret CIA communications system.
According to the former intelligence official, once the Iranian double agent showed Iranian intelligence the website used to communicate with his or her CIA handlers, they began to scour the internet for websites with similar digital signifiers or components - eventually hitting on the right string of advanced search terms to locate other secret CIA websites.
U.S. officials believe that Chinese intelligence obtained physical access to the transitional, or temporary, secret communications system used by the CIA to correspond with new, unvetted sources - and broke through the firewall separating it from the main covert communications system, compromising the CIA's entire asset network in that country, Foreign Policy.
CIA officials who focus on Russia knew about the China ordeal and quickly adjusted their communications with sources accordingly, some of the former officials said.
Starting around 2013, Iranian cyber experts seemed to be tracking CIA agents outside their own borders, including in Yemen, where Iran eventually compromised the internet-based covert communications system there, said one of the former officials.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cias-communications-suffered-catastrophic-compromise-started-iran-090018710.html
The Iranian compromise led to significantly fewer CIA agents being killed than in China, according to former officials.
Though the Iranians didn't say precisely how they infiltrated the network, two former U.S. intelligence officials said that the Iranians cultivated a double agent who led them to the secret CIA communications system.
According to the former intelligence official, once the Iranian double agent showed Iranian intelligence the website used to communicate with his or her CIA handlers, they began to scour the internet for websites with similar digital signifiers or components - eventually hitting on the right string of advanced search terms to locate other secret CIA websites.
U.S. officials believe that Chinese intelligence obtained physical access to the transitional, or temporary, secret communications system used by the CIA to correspond with new, unvetted sources - and broke through the firewall separating it from the main covert communications system, compromising the CIA's entire asset network in that country, Foreign Policy.
CIA officials who focus on Russia knew about the China ordeal and quickly adjusted their communications with sources accordingly, some of the former officials said.
Starting around 2013, Iranian cyber experts seemed to be tracking CIA agents outside their own borders, including in Yemen, where Iran eventually compromised the internet-based covert communications system there, said one of the former officials.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cias-communications-suffered-catastrophic-compromise-started-iran-090018710.html
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