Syber News

Pfc. Bradley Manning, already charged with disseminating the video that Wikileaks called "Collateral Murder" and posted in April, is also widely believed to be the source of the documents that Wikileaks posted last Sunday. But did he have civilian help to get the documents to Wikileaks? The former hacker that turned Manning in believes that may be the case.

Adrian Lamo turned in Manning after the two exchanged instant messages, and Manning boasted of his "exploits." In a report on Friday, the New York Times noted that Lamo, although admitting he did not have direct evidence of a co-conspirator, he "believed that a person with ties to WikiLeaks had helped Private Manning set up encryption software that would have allowed him to e-mail small bits of classified data outside the military computer system without detection."

On Saturday, however, Lamo seemed to be more sure of a co-conspirator. He reported in a phone interview that:

[...] he had firsthand knowledge that someone helped Manning set up encryption software to send classified information to WikiLeaks.

Lamo, who's cooperating with investigators, wouldn't name the person but said the man was among a group of people in the Boston area who work with WikiLeaks. He said the man told him "he actually helped Private Manning set up the encryption software he used."

That would seem to be a distinct reversal from the statements Lamo made to the New York Times.

However, the New York Times also reported on Friday investigators are looking into some friends and acquaintances of Manning, who may have had the expertise, as well as the connections to Wikileaks, to help Manning. Those being investigated include students from MIT and Boston University.