Osama bin Laden’s computer files riddled with malware

Doug OlenickNovember 3, 2017

Al-Qa‘ida's former leader Osama bin Laden had a problem in addition to having U.S. special forces units hunting him down his computer was filled with malware.

This news tidbit came out as the CIA made public 470,000 computer files recovered when U.S. Navy SEALS killed him in a May 2011 raid on his compound in Pakistan. In order to spare the public from being infected the CIA withheld the infected computer documents from being released, along with those the Agency deemed unsuitable for public consumption, such as his proclivity for pornography and copyright protected material. This included movies like Cars and Chicken Little, and National Geographic and CNN documentaries on bin Laden.

The CIA did not detail what type of malware was discovered.

Doug Olenick

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) emblem is seen at its headquarters in Arlington, Va.

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