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Doge Teen with Cybercrime Connections Now Inside Cybersecurity Agency CISA

90 points| chonkerz | 1 year ago |nextgov.com

55 comments

order

nunez|1 year ago

I'm more concerned about lesser-known DOGE staffers taking huge paydays for sharing some "there's no way this is really classified" classified information and getting away with it.

Shenanigans like that usually land you in jail for 20+ years, but this is a presidential committee, so it's totally different.

sepositus|1 year ago

It'd be interesting to do as much investigative journaling as has been done into Coristine with others in this department. I've seen very few people survive the majority of the media apparatus going through their lives with a fine-tooth comb.

And I'm not justifying anyone here. From my limited perspective, the guy doesn't belong anywhere near this place, but then again, I might have the same perspective for multiple people already operating there.

chonkerz|1 year ago

Other members of DOGE are getting dissected for past racist posts, but I personally think that's a lot less interesting and concerning than the historical leak allegations against this dude. DOGE will fire everybody except their own people. I think that double standard drives even more interest.

kreetx|1 year ago

Nextgov, About: "Nextgov/FCW is owned by GovExec" [1]

GovExec, About: "In March of 2020, we committed our entire organization to creating the leading sales and marketing intelligence company serving the public sector" (added emphasis)

I.e, it may just be that the that the story is written by an organization that is losing it's funding.

[1] https://www.nextgov.com/about/

[2] https://about.govexec.com/company/about/

keepamovin|1 year ago

[deleted]

edm0nd|1 year ago

He's not innocent. He was a member of the cybercrime skid community called "The Com" that is regularly involved with cryptocurrency thefts, ddos attacks, and sim swapping. It's not normal. Dude is a blackhat skid with some crazy access to shit he shouldnt have access to imo.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/02/teen-on-musks-doge-team-...

woodruffw|1 year ago

> The presumption of innocence should direct opinion, not implication, but the links should be noted.

The standard in civil service is historically and conventionally "beyond even the appearance of impropriety," not "presumption of innocence." I think the person in question falls well below that standard.

cantSpellSober|1 year ago

Yes unfortunately this is much more specific than "cyber researchers interacting with cybercriminals"

> Coristine was fired from a company after leaking internal firm secrets to a competitor

...and now has physical access to building facilities at CISA

chonkerz|1 year ago

He wasn't interacting with them as a researcher does. He was working for them as an employee. And then they fired him and accused him of leaking, and publicly humiliated him.

No one even knows what this kid is doing inside CISA's network!!

benatkin|1 year ago

There's already a reasonable approach to this, which DOGE is opting out of. Those who are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_hat are carefully given positions that require their specific skills, and aren't given run of the mill security sensitive IT roles.

nobankai|1 year ago

[deleted]

mannyv|1 year ago

Takes one to know one.

These days a criminal record is no bar for any computer-related thing...or at least it shouldn't be. However, it'd be prudent to monitor what they're keeping. Anyone who's any good will be keeping little nuggets of stuff for the future.

Tadpole9181|1 year ago

Their crime is, within the last 2 years, commiting corporate espionage? What in the world are you talking about - that is the literal definition of "should not be working with classified documents and every American's SSN".