Rodney Joffe

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Rodney Joffe
Rodney Joffe in 2007.jpg
Born
Rodney Lance Joffe

1954 (age 67–68)
South Africa
Other namesMax, Tech Executive-1
CitizenshipAmerican[1]
OccupationComputer scientist
Known forComputer security

Rodney Joffe is a South African-American entrepreneur. He is a recipient of the FBI's Director's Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation for his role in uncovering the Mariposa botnet. He is also one of a group of four people, including Michael Sussmann and David Dagon, who asserted that The Trump Organization was in secret communication with Alfa-Bank in Russia.[2]

Even though Joffe's firm had a cybersecurity contract with the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to keep track of its DNS traffic after the Russian hacking of White House networks in 2015 and 2016, Special counsel John Durham alleged in February 2022 that Joffe had "exploited" his access to internet traffic from Trump Tower and the White House to seek derogatory information on Donald Trump, though Durham did not assert Joffe's alleged activity was unlawful or conducted at the direction of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

Early life[]

Joffe was born in South Africa to a Jewish family.[3] He has been involved in information technology since 1973, when he trained as a systems analyst and programmer in the pensions actuarial group of the Old Mutual Life Insurance Company in Cape Town.[4]

Career[]

Joffe is credited with creating Genuity (Internet company), the world's first commercial Internet hosting company, as well as UltraDNS, the world's first outsourced, cloud-based DNS company. He is now a fellow at Neustar.[5]

Lawsuit[]

In 1988, Joffe's Clinton, Iowa-based firm, Merchandisers Warehouse Inc., was sued by the Attorney General of Iowa for its alleged involvement in a scheme to sell cheap mail-order grandfather clocks at inflated prices to consumers in Iowa. The firm, as well as its Beverly Hills-based parent corporation, Prize Redemption Warehouse, in a settlement agreed to refund $800,000 to more than 10,000 Iowan consumers.[6][7][8][9]

Durham inquiry[]

Main articles: Russia investigation origins counter-narrative § Durham inquiry, and John Durham § Indictment of attorney

On September 16, 2021, Joffe was pseudonymously referenced as "Tech Executive-1" in the indictment of Perkins Coie attorney, Michael A. Sussmann, and was alleged to have exploited his access to non-public data to conduct opposition research into potential communications between Alfa-Bank and the Trump Organization.[10]

In a February 2022 court motion related to Sussmann's prosecution, Durham alleged that Joffe and his associates had "exploited" capabilities his company had through a pending cybersecurity contract with the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to acquire nonpublic government domain name system and other data traffic "for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump."[11] Durham did not assert Joffe's alleged activity was unlawful or conducted at the direction of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, or that it occurred after Trump took office.[12] Durham also did not allege that any eavesdropping of Trump communications content occurred.[13] A spokesman for Joffe said his client had lawful access under a contract to analyze White House DNS data for potential security threats.[14] The spokesman asserted Joffe's work was in response to hacks of the EOP in 2015 and of the DNC in 2016, as well as Russian YotaPhone queries in proximity to the EOP and the Trump campaign, that raised "serious and legitimate national security concerns about Russian attempts to infiltrate the 2016 election" that was shared with the CIA.[15]

Identity revealed[]

On September 15, 2021, Internet researchers successfully extrapolated information from civil litigation brought by Alfa Bank and other open source data to identify Joffe as "Max" from Dexter Filkins' New Yorker articles about Alfa-Bank and The Trump Organization, in addition to being a client of Sussmann.[16][17][18]

Hours later, The New York Times reported Special Counsel John Durham was seeking to indict Sussmann for allegedly falsely telling the FBI general counsel he was not representing a client for the purposes of a meeting they had in September 2016.[19][20]

On September 30, 2021, Joffe was confirmed to be Tech Executive-1.[21][22][23][24]

Awards[]

In 2013, Joffe received the FBI's Director's Award for Outstanding Cyber Investigation for his role in uncovering the Mariposa botnet.[25]

References[]

  1. ^ "Memo of Law Re Sussmann 10.12.21 Exhibits - Part 1". p. 93. Retrieved October 15, 2021. Did you understand why Mr. Sussmann was using a pseudonym for Rodney Joffe? [...] To the best of my recollection, it was described to me as this is an individual [Joffe] who is a senior official who has both significant government and nongovernment contracts. Someone who has no interest in being part of a news cycle, but yet as a patriotic American, felt it was his duty to provide this information to the government in some way for them to take some further research action.
  2. ^ Savage, Charlie; Goldman, Adam (September 30, 2021). "Trump Server Mystery Produces Fresh Conflict". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Butterworth, Trevor (September 27, 2010). "Computer Worm Invaded Iranian Nuke Plant". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 18, 2021. Charming and quick-witted, Joffe, who is 55 and originally hails from South Africa...
  4. ^ "Nominating Committee – Members 2005". www.icann.org. ICANN. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  5. ^ "Rodney Joffe". Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021. Rodney Joffe is a DNS and security industry pioneer who founded a pair of keystone companies – Genuity (first commercial Internet hosting company) and UltraDNS (first outsourced, cloud-based DNS company) – and now serves as SVP and Fellow at Neustar.
  6. ^ Daubenmier, Judy (February 20, 1998). "Firm will refund $800,000 to Iowans". The Cedar Rapids Gazette. Iowa. p. 7. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller's office has reached a settlement with a Beverly Hills company doing business in Iowa that will return approximately $800,000 to more than 10,000 consumers who believed they had won a grandfather clock. [...] The attorney general said the consumers were merely buying a cheap, battery-powered, pressed wood and plastic clock at an inflated price. The firm involved, Prize Redemption Warehouse of Beverly Hills, Calif, had set up an Iowa corporation, Merchandisers Warehouse Inc., of Clinton. Rodney Joffee [sic] was president of the Clinton firm and Linda Marilyn was vice president.
  7. ^ Huner, Darlene (February 20, 1998). "Clock 'winners' get refunds". The Des Moines Register. Iowa. p. 27. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. About $800,000 will be returned to more than 10,000 consumers, including an unknown number of Iowas, who were led to believe they had won a valuable grandfather clock, Attorney General Thomas J. Miller said Friday. Under settlement of a consumer fraud complaint, neither the Prize Redemption Warehouse of Beverly Hills, Calif., nor its Iowa subsidiary, Merchandisers Warehouse Inc., admitted any wrongdoing. [...] Miller said consumers had been contacted by postcard that they had won a Bentley grandfather clock. But he said the contest was "just a scheme to sell the cheap clocks at an inflated price."
  8. ^ "Prize firm investigated; refunds available". St. Joseph News-Press. Iowa. July 28, 1998. p. 28. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. According to the letter, "The agreement settles a lawsuit [that the Attorney General of Missouri, William Webster] filed in April with Prize Redemption Warehouse, Linda Carella and Rodney Joffe. In that lawsuit, Webster alleged the company had misled consumers to believe they had won prizes in a contest that never existed."
  9. ^ "Cash Seized in Sales Scam". Los Angeles Times. February 20, 1988. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Iowa’s attorney general said Friday that his office impounded about $800,000 from a Beverly Hills company selling overpriced grandfather clocks. Atty. Gen. Tom Miller said more than 10,000 consumers sent checks and money orders to a Clinton, Iowa, address after receiving a post card saying they had won a “world-famous Bentley IX Grandfather clock.” Consumers were asked to send $69.19 for shipping. The clocks are worth far less than the shipping fee, Miller said, and it was just a scheme to sell the cheap clocks at an inflated price. [...] Miller said his office filed suit and a consent judgment against Prize Redemption Warehouse of Beverly Hills and a related corporation set up in Iowa, Merchandisers Warehouse Inc., and that no consumer will lose any money.
  10. ^ "USA vs SUSSMANN". September 16, 2021. ...SUSSMANN acted on behalf of specific clients, namely, (i) a U.S. technology industry executive ("Tech Executive-1") at a U.S. Internet company ("Internet Company-1"), and (ii) the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign (the "Clinton Campaign") [...] Had the FBI uncovered the origins of the relevant data and analysis, and as alleged below, it might have learned, among other things, that (i) in compiling and analyzing the Russian Bank-1 allegations, Tech Executive-1 had exploited his access to non-public data at multiple Internet companies to conduct opposition research concerning Trump; (ii) in furtherance of these efforts, Tech Executive-I had enlisted, and was continuing to enlist, the assistance of researchers at a U.S.-based university who were receiving and analyzing Internet data in connection with a pending federal government cybersecurity research contract; and (iii) SUSSMANN, Tech Executive-1, and Law Firm-1 had coordinated, and were continuing to coordinate, with representatives and agents of the Clinton Campaign with regard to the data and written materials that SUSSMANN gave to the FBI and the media
  11. ^ Neidig, Harper (February 14, 2022). "Durham alleges cyber analysts 'exploited' access to Trump White House server". The Hill.
  12. ^ Alexander Mallin; Jack Date (February 15, 2022). "Special counsel, Democratic lawyer clash over new allegations regarding data purported to tie Trump to Russia". ABC News.
  13. ^ Katelyn Polantz; Evan Perez (February 14, 2022). "Special counsel Durham alleges Clinton campaign lawyer used data to raise suspicions about Trump". CNN.
  14. ^ Savage, Charlie (February 14, 2022). "Court Filing Started a Furor in Right-Wing Outlets, but Their Narrative Is Off Track". The New York Times.
  15. ^ Alexander Mallin; Jack Date (February 15, 2022). "Special counsel, Democratic lawyer clash over new allegations regarding data purported to tie Trump to Russia". ABC News.
  16. ^ Filkins, Dexter (October 8, 2018). "Was There a Connection Between a Russian Bank and the Trump Campaign?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. In June, 2016, after news broke that the Democratic National Committee had been hacked, a group of prominent computer scientists went on alert. Reports said that the infiltrators were probably Russian, which suggested to most members of the group that one of the country’s intelligence agencies had been involved. They speculated that if the Russians were hacking the Democrats they must be hacking the Republicans, too. "We thought there was no way in the world the Russians would just attack the Democrats," one of the computer scientists, who asked to be identified only as Max, told me. [...] (Max described himself as "a John McCain Republican.") [...] Max’s group began combing the Domain Name System, a worldwide network that acts as a sort of phone book for the Internet, translating easy-to-remember domain names into I.P. addresses, the strings of numbers that computers use to identify one another. [...] Max and his group are part of a community that has unusual access to these records, which are especially useful to cybersecurity experts who work to protect clients from attacks. Max and the other computer scientists asked me to withhold their names, out of concern for their privacy and their security. I met with Max and his lawyer repeatedly, and interviewed other prominent computer experts.
  17. ^ @Fool_Nelson (September 15, 2021). "3/ Given "Max/@michaelsuss's client" was a "John McCain Republican", Joffe is a good candidate given he donated to a Republican while living in Arizona and his company @Neustar has been represented by Perkins Coie" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 21, 2021 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "Identity of 'Tech Executive' in Durham indictment over Alfa Bank claims revealed". Washington Examiner. September 30, 2021. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Online sleuths figured out earlier this month Joffe was likely the unnamed technology executive.
  19. ^ Savage, Charlie; Goldman, Adam; schmidt, Michael; Rashbaum, William (September 15, 2021). "Durham Is Said to Seek Indictment of Lawyer at Firm With Democratic Ties". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 15, 2021. John H. Durham, the special counsel appointed by the Trump administration to scrutinize the Russia investigation, has told the Justice Department that he will ask a grand jury to indict a prominent cybersecurity lawyer on a charge of making a false statement to the F.B.I., people familiar with the matter said. [...] An indictment is not a certainty: On rare occasions, grand juries decline prosecutors’ requests. But Mr. Sussmann’s lawyers, Sean M. Berkowitz and Michael S. Bosworth of Latham & Watkins, acknowledged on Wednesday that they expected him to be indicted, while denying he made any false statement.
  20. ^ McIntyre, Stephen [@ClimateAudit] (September 16, 2021). "5/ Tech-Executive 1 (Max, who, prior to indictment, was plausibly identified by @Fool_Nelson as Rodney Joffe of Neustar) also communicated directly with Fusion GPS. Questoin: are these communications disclosed in Communications Log provided to Alfa?" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 18, 2021 – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Savage, Charlie; Goldman, Adam (September 30, 2021). "Trump Server Mystery Produces Fresh Conflict". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. [T]hree of their names have appeared among a list of data experts in a lawsuit brought by Alfa Bank, and Trump supporters have speculated online about their identities. The Times has confirmed them, and their lawyers provided statements defending their actions. [...] “Tech Executive-1” is Mr. Joffe, who in 2013 received the F.B.I. Director’s Award for helping crack a cybercrime case, and retired this month from Neustar, another information services company.
  22. ^ McIntyre, Stephen [@ClimateAudit] (September 30, 2021). "ALL of the identifications of co-conspirators and participants in the Sussmann Indictment previously proposed in this corner of Twitter have been confirmed by Savage (just as he grudgingly confirmed identifications of Danchenko etc last year)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 30, 2021 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ Ross, Chuck [@ChuckRossDC] (September 30, 2021). "CNN confirms what @FOOL_NELSON sleuthed a while back -- "Tech executive 1" in the Sussmann indictment is Rodney Joffe of the firm Neustar. Alfa Bank had subpoenaed Joffe earlier this year in its lawsuit against Fusion GPS" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ Perez, Evan; Katelyn, Polantz (September 30, 2021). "Durham issues fresh round of subpoenas in his continuing probe of FBI investigation into Trump, Russia". CNN. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. While working for Perkins Coie, Sussmann also represented Rodney Joffe, a cybersecurity expert referred to in Durham's indictment as "Tech Executive-1." In 2016, Joffe, who has not been previously identified, worked with researchers to collect internet data about the Trump Organization that Sussmann took to the FBI.
  25. ^ "Neustar's Rodney Joffe Receives Prestigious FBI Director's Award". October 29, 2013. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021.
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