Why the hiring news of Dan Wolfford, Ex-NSA Analyst by Crypto was frowned upon?
Recently reports emerged that Crypto.com, one of the most valuable U.S. Crypto Currency Company hired a former NSA Analyst; Dan Wolfford who worked for an Emirati based controversial surveillance company DarkMatter, alleged for spying on American citizens, journalists, and Human Right Activists.
The apparent source of the news was the declaration made by Dan Wolfford himself on Linkedin. Dan Wolfford declared on LinkedIn that he would be working as the head of Security Operations for Crypto.com. Wolfford used to be an NSA analyst, and after he retired from Public service, he went to work for DarkMatter.
While the privacy protectors’ community was busy speculating issues related to this appointment, an update was given by Crypto.com revealing that Wolfford “was not on boarded.” and would no longer be joining the position. It was a big relief.
The Privacy protectors’ community certainly had all the rights to be concerned about such an appointment given the history Dan Wolfford shared with the Emirati surveillance firm Dark Matter and the past instances wherein such appointments have been harmful for community.
DarkMatter, an Emirati based hacking corporation was separated from its cyber offensive pursuit however number of activities that were initiated by the firm was forwarded by Abu Dhabi’s new firm Digital 14.
In 2019, Crypto currency industry giant Coinbase procured a block chain intelligence startup called Neutrino founded by three former employees of the controversial spyware company Hacking Team, known for selling surveillance and hacking technology like Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, which then used as a weapon against journalists and dissidents.
In 2014, Italian-based spyware firm ‘The Hacking Team’ was charged for selling its untraceable spyware to many countries like Qatar, Spain, etc without considering human rights or privacy violations. The company lost its commerce and the facility to legally sell its tools outside the borders.
The firm Neutrino was extremely criticized because of the founder’s ties to a controversial surveillance company Hacking Team. According to Brain Armstrong (coinbase CEO), employees of Neutrino who previously worked at hacking Team will transition out of Coinbase instead of joining in London as originally planned.
Last Year Three former US intelligence operatives were also found out breaking US laws by carrying out hacking operations for the notorious spyware company of Emirati Nation DarkMatter. The hackers allegedly hacked into servers, computers and phones around the world. And when exposed, Men were agreed to pay $1.7m to resolve charges of fraud.
This is one of the cases wherein an Ex-Public servant of the US could have been employed into a sensitive segment that gives a lot of potential of illegal surveillance on specific target countries and individuals breaching privacy on a large scale. Hence, it became a serious concern that was frowned upon by the privacy protectors.
