Hacking Firm Boss Pleads Guilty to Stealing, Selling Secrets (2)

A former director at a US military contractor that sells computer vulnerabilities pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing and reselling $35 million in trade secrets to a Russian cyber-tools broker whose clients include the Russian government.

Peter Williams, 39, worked at Trenchant, an L3 Harris Technologies Inc. subsidiary that develops hacking tools and describes itself as an “elite team of network operators, engineers and vulnerability researchers who are charged with building world-class computer security products,” according to the firm’s website.

He was accused of stealing “national-security focused software that included at least eight sensitive and protected cyber-exploit components,” which were ...