Former CIA employee Joshua Schulte has been convicted of leaking secret information to the Wikileaks disclosure platform.
A court in New York found the 33-year-old guilty on Wednesday of supplying Wikileaks with cyber espionage tools in 2017.
Schulte committed one of the "most shameless" and "damaging" acts of espionage in American history, prosecutor Damian Williams said.
When he worked for a CIA hacker unit in 2016, Schulte began collecting malware, viruses and Trojans for cyber espionage under the name "Vault 7".
Wikileaks published the 8761 documents from March 2017. This gave hackers worldwide access to these tools.
Revenge for perceived injustice?
According to the investigations by the CIA, Schulte wanted to take revenge on the fact that the secret service had not taken his side in conflicts with his colleagues by passing on the secret data to Wikileaks.
He knew the "collateral damage of his revenge posed a significant threat to the security of the country," prosecutor Williams said.
After Schulte came under suspicion, investigations were initiated against him in 2017.
In the course of the investigation, child pornographic data was found on his computers.
In 2020, he was convicted by a grand jury of perjury.
However, the jury could not agree on convictions on other charges.
The second trial lasted four hours on Wednesday.
Schulte was found guilty on eight counts.
The penalty will be determined later.
The espionage allegations can each be punished with ten years in prison.
Because of the child pornography finds, Schulte must expect further criminal proceedings.