A huge trove of documents released by WIkileaks claims to throw light on the CIA’s “global hacking force”. The organization is calling the leaks “Vault 7”, and said Tuesday’s document dump is only the first part of a series. In a statement to CBS News, CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu said, “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents”.
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In a statement, WikiLeaks founder and chief editor Julian Assange said that the documents show the “extreme risk” of the uncontrolled spread of cyber weapons.
WikiLeaks on Tuesday released a trove of documents from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) stating that the American spy agency can easily hack into your television, smartphones and can possibly control your vehicle. WikiLeaks’ alleged CIA documents claim that the agency’s stockpile of exploits is used for a number of activities, including monitoring communications and tracking users. Similar to “Earth/Eve” and “Moon”, the iOS exploits, WikiLeaks also describes zero days stockpiled by the CIA’s team for hacking Android devices.
The anti-secrecy website has published thousands of the USA spy agency’s secret documents, including what it says are the CIA’s hacking tools.
Apple’s efforts to secure its platform are reportedly being hampered by the fact that, while the leaked documents suggest the Central Intelligence Agency has ways to breach iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms, it doesn’t actually describe in detail how those tools function.
WikiLeaks said the CIA and other intelligence services bypassed encryption on the phones and messaging services, including Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and even Linux were all named as having vulnerabilities that could be used for surveillance.
USA media quoted current and former US officials as saying that details contained in the documents suggest that they are legitimate. WikiLeaks said it planned to avoid distributing tools “until a consensus emerges” on the political nature of the CIA’s program and how such software could be analyzed, disarmed and published. We are aware of the report in question and are urgently looking into the matter. But for others, like exploits on so-called connected Internet of Things devices like smart refrigerators or baby monitors, it could take much longer.
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Wikileaks also claimed the CIA worked with United Kingdom intelligence officials to turn microphones in televisions into listening devices. Williams, who has had experience dealing with government hackers said that the extensive reference to operation security meant that they involved the government, Williams said: “I can’t fathom anyone fabricated that amount of operational security concern”.
