Former Australian aide Peter Williams faces 20 years jail for selling US secrets to Russia
A man facing decades in a US prison for selling secrets to Russia once worked under ASIO chief Mike Burgess at the heart of Australia’s top secret networks.
EXCLUSIVE: A man facing decades in a US prison for selling secrets to Russia once worked under ASIO chief Mike Burgess at the heart of Australia’s top secret networks.
This masthead can reveal Peter Williams, 39, once worked inside DSD’s Evaluations and Industry Coordination section – the gatekeepers of Australia’s cyber defences.
Mr Williams now faces up to twenty years in a US prison after he admitted to stealing eight trade secrets from two American tech firms and selling them “to a buyer based in the Russian Federation.”
US prosecutors want $1.3 million in assets including crypto wallets, luxury watches and a Washington D.C. townhouse they say are tied to his crimes.
Inside DSD from 2008-09 – the cyber intelligence agency now known as the Australian Signals Directorate – Williams helped evaluate and certify the technology guarding Australia’s defence and intelligence agency secure networks.
It was the section that judged which encryption devices, gateways and software were safe to deliver Australia’s most classified communications – a role that made him privy to their vulnerabilities.
They managed the Evaluated Products List, Canberra’s whitelist of trusted technology shared with Five Eyes partners: the US, U.K., Canada and New Zealand.
His team also had the authority to tear open encryption systems bound for classified use – hunting for hidden flaws and potential exploits.
Their verdicts, delivered under the Australian Information Security Evaluation Program, informed what could connect to Defence, ASIO, ASIS and other intelligence systems.
DSD’s encryption approvals, which followed the Common Criteria standard, were trusted globally, part of a closed Five Eyes circle that includes the US’ NSA and UK’s GCHQ.
They vetted network firewalls, secure operating systems, database software, microkernels, multi-factor authentication devices, smartcard systems and routers.
His section also approved software changes on high-grade cryptographic equipment – the machines that lock down classified data.
“Our evaluation of emerging technology is rigorous, but ensures secure use in government systems,” now-ASIO chief Mike Burgess said when he served as DSD’s First Assistant Secretary for Information Security.
In 2009, DSD certified Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform, allowing public servants to carry classified information in their pockets.
Also in their scope were “cross-domain solutions”, the digital gateways that move data between networks of different classifications.
If those systems fail, top secrets can bleed into lesser classified space.
Mr Williams – whose wife Su-en Williams née Yek worked alongside him in DSD’s Evaluations and Industry Coordination and is not accused of any wrongdoing – sat inside that trust zone.
They moved to Sydney’s Bondi Junction after living in Canberra then relocated to Washington D.C. where Mr Williams has since worked as a senior executive for U.S. cyber defence contractors.
In a statement, an ASD spokesperson said the agency “does not comment on individual cases”.
“ASD has layered security controls and procedures to protect our people, information, assets and capabilities.”
“ASIO does not comment on individuals”, its spokesperson said.
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Originally published as Former Australian aide Peter Williams faces 20 years jail for selling US secrets to Russia
