Critical Infrastructure Security, Data Security, Threat Management

Major US intelligence leak found to have stemmed from Discord servers

Investigative journalism outfit Bellingcat revealed that up to 100 U.S. classified intelligence documents exposed as part of a major leak first emerged in the "Thug Shaker Central" Discord server before being reposted in the "WowMao" and "Minecraft Earth Map" servers, and later to Telegram and 4chan, CyberScoop reports. "When you think of these big leaks, you think of whistleblowers like Snowden, hack and dumps from Russia. This is just a guy in a tiny Discord server sharing hundreds of insanely sensitive [files] with his gaming buddies," said Bellingcat reporter Aric Toler. The U.S. Department of Defense has already launched an investigation aimed at verifying the legitimacy of the leaked data, which includes briefing slide photographs and other intelligence details, such as the U.S.'s penetration of the Russian military, the timetable of South Korea's munition delivery to Ukraine, communications between Russia's FSB and a cybercrime operation, and others. However, security professionals have mostly been skeptical regarding the veracity of the leaked documents.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.