U.S. Sanctions Russian Broker Over Zero-Day Exploits Theft

U.S. authorities say an Australian insider stole eight classified zero-day exploits from a U.S. defense contractor between 2022–2025 and sold them for roughly $1.3M in cryptocurrency to a Russia-linked broker called Operation Zero; the U.S. has sanctioned the broker, its director Sergey Zelenyuk, and affiliated entities (including a UAE-based shell) to disrupt the exploit brokerage operation and signal that exploit marketplaces are a national security threat.