According to Reuters, Edward Snowden persuaded his colleagues at the NSA regional operations in Hawaii to give him their log-in credentials, which he then used to access some of the classified material he would later leak to journalists.

Between 20-25 coworkers provided their user-names and passwords to Snowden, reportedly after he told them he needed the information for his job as computer systems administrator. Several of those employees have now been questioned and removed from their assignments, according to one of Reuters' sources.

If the report is true, it means NSA employees and contractors, the people with access to our country's most guarded secrets, fell for a trick practically every technology company and IT department warns against. That said, you can be sure Snowden's co-workers in Russia have been instructed not to entirely trust their new American colleague.

[Image via AP]