US spies duped of $ 1 lakh U. S. JUSTICE DEPT’S NO. 3 OFFICIAL RESIGNS

■ Russian promising stolen NSA hacking tools, info on Trump chased ■ ■

Washington, Feb. 10: A Russian man promising stolen hacking tools and compromising information on President Donald Trump fleeced American spies for $ 100,000 last year, according to a media report.

In a story worthy of a John le Carre novel that included secret USB- drive handovers in a small West Berlin bar and coded messages delivered over the National Security Agency’s Twitter account, CIA agents reportedly spent much of last year trying to buy back from the Russian hacking programmes stolen from the NSA, the New York Times reported on Friday. The seller, who was not identified, but had links to both cyber criminals and Russian intelligence, tantalised the US spies with an offer of the NSA hacking tools that had been advertised for sale online by a shady group called the Shadow Brokers.

Some of the tools, developed by the NSA to break into the computers of US rivals, were used by other hackers last year to break into computer systems around the world, including the global malware attack last May. The seller, reached through a

chain of intermediaries, wanted $ 1 million. The $ 100,000, delivered in a

cash- stuffed suitcase handed over in a Berlin hotel room, was an initial Washington, Feb. 10: The third- ranking official at the US Justice Department is resigning just nine months after taking the powerful position, according to a media report.

The resignation of Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, a national security law expert, comes as President Donald Trump and Republican legislators have stepped up attacks on the department over special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump campaign links to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Brand was in position to inherit oversight of the Mueller probe if the department’s number two, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, is forced out. The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the report.

The New York Times said Brand is leaving for a job in the private sector.