NCIS Cyber: USAF investigating USN for planting email tracking malware

In a convoluted plot even the most inventive TV writer would have a hard time conjuring the U.S. Air Force is investigating an alleged cyber intrusion by the U.S. Navy.

A U.S. Air Force lawyer and Navy Times journalist each received emails containing tracking malware that was allegedly sent by a U.S. Navy prosecutor in an attempt to track down who was leaking information to the press regarding the trial of a Navy SEAL, according to the Air Force Times. The Air Force Times cited a May 19 memo by Capt. David Wilson, chief of staff for the Navy’s Defense Service Offices that said he discovered that tracking software was included in an email sent to an Air Force lawyer defending Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who, among others, has been charged with war crimes stemming from incidents in Iraq.

The tracking malware was placed after a Navy judge issued a gag order for Gallagher’s case, but information continued to leak to the Navy Times, which is why Carl Pines, the publications editor, was also on the receiving end of the malware-laced emails, the Air Force Times reported.

The Air Force attorney reported the incident to his information security manager and that service is now treating this incident as a cyber-intrusion seized the Air Force Individual Military Counsel’s computer and phone for review, the Air Force Times said.