Cyber: Defense Contractor Employee Jailed For Selling 8 Zero-days To...

A 39-year-old Australian national who was previously employed at U.S. defense contractor L3Harris has been sentenced to a little over seven years in prison for selling eight zero-day exploits to Russian exploit broker Operation Zero in exchange for millions of dollars.

Peter Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets in October 2025. In addition to the jail term, Williams has been ordered to serve three years of supervised release with special conditions, as well as forfeit illicit proceeds, including properties, clothing, jewelry, and luxury watches, purchased from the cryptocurrency payments he received in return for selling the exploits.

The case's connection to Operation Zero was disclosed by cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter late last year. The nature of the exploits are presently unclear. But a sentencing memorandum published earlier this month revealed that the tools could have been "used against any manner of victim, civilian or military around the world, and engage in all manner of crime from cyber fraud, theft, and ransomware, to state directed spying and offensive cyber operations against military targets."

"Williams exploited his senior role at a U.S. defense contractor to enrich himself at the expense of the United States and his employer," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. "The tools he compromised were intended to protect this Nation; instead, he auctioned them off to a Russian bidder."

According to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia, Williams sold the trade secrets for up to $4 million in cryptocurrency. The exploit tools could have allowed Russia to access millions of digital devices, Pirro added.

The theft of eight cyber-exploit components took place over a period of three years between 2022 and 2025. The zero-day exploits are designed to be sold exclusively to the U.S. government and select allies. The actions are estimated to have incurred L3Harris $35 million in financial losses.

The U.S. State Department, in tandem, announced the designations of Operation Zero (aka Matrix LLC), along with Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk and Special Technology Services LLC FZ (STS), under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act (PAIPA) in connection with the trade secret theft.

Zelenyuk is a Russian national and the director and owner of Operation Zero. He also established STS in the U.A.E. to conduct business with various countries in Asia and the Middle E

Source: The Hacker News