A new exclusive report from Reuters traces the shadowy “Project Raven,” a program run by the United Arab Emirates that hired ex-NSA cyberspies to hack the devices of targets around the world. The only named source of the information reportedly became disillusioned with the work when the program began spying on fellow Americans. Through interviews with several other project employees and “thousands of pages of project documents and emails,” surveillance tools and techniques used by the NSA were key to the UAE’s program. This has raised questions about the employment of former intelligence workers. “There’s a moral obligation if you’re a former intelligence officer from becoming effectively a mercenary for a foreign government,” argued a former executive assistant director at the FBI. Designing a policy to prevent this, however, is nearly impossible. The exception is laws against hacking American targets. Now, the FBI is investigating Project Raven for instances of U.S. leaks of classified surveillance techniques and illegal targeting of American networks. 

Source: Exclusive: Ex-NSA cyberspies reveal how they helped hack foes of UAE