Jeffrey Epstein had a 'personal hacker': What did they do?
What's the story
A confidential informant told the FBI in 2017 that Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, employed a "personal hacker." The information was revealed in a document released by the Department of Justice as part of its legally mandated disclosure process. The document does not name this alleged hacker but provides some details about their background and expertise.
Cyber skills
Hacker specialized in finding vulnerabilities in iOS systems
The informant described the hacker as an Italian from Calabria, a region in southern Italy. They specialized in finding vulnerabilities in iOS systems, BlackBerry devices, as well as the Firefox browser. The document further alleges that this hacker developed zero-day exploits and offensive cyber tools which they sold to various countries, including an unnamed central African government, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Suspicious deal
Hacker sold 0-day exploit to Hezbollah
The informant also claimed that Epstein's hacker sold a zero-day exploit to Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon. The payment for this transaction was made in the form of "a trunk of cash," according to the document. However, it is important to note that these claims are based solely on information provided by an informant and not directly from the FBI.
Document disclosure
Justice Department released millions of pages from Epstein files
Yesterday, the Justice Department announced it had released 3.5 million more pages from the Epstein files. The newly disclosed documents, some heavily redacted, include over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. This is part of a larger effort to make records related to Epstein's case and his alleged criminal activities accessible to the public.