WikiLeaks on Tuesday released what it said is the
full hacking capacity of the CIA in a stunning 8,000-plus page
disclosure the anti-secrecy website contends is “the largest ever
publication of confidential documents on the agency.”
The 8,761 documents and files -- released as “Vault 7 Part 1”
and titled “Year Zero” -- were obtained from an “isolated,
high-security network” at the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in
Langley, Va., a press release from the website said. The trove had been
“circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors,” one
of whom “recently” gave the archive to WikiLeaks.
“We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents," a CIA spokesperson told Fox News.
The collection of purported intelligence tools
includes information on CIA-developed malware -- bearing names such as
“Assassin” and “Medusa” -- intended to target iPhones, Android phones,
smart TVs and Microsoft, Mac and Linux operating systems, among others.
An entire unit in the CIA is devoted to inventing programs to hack data
from Apple products, according to WikiLeaks. WIKILEAKS OFFERS REWARD FOR INFO ON OBAMA MISDEEDS
Some of the remote hacking programs can allegedly
turn numerous electronic devices into recording and transmitting
stations to spy on their targets, with the information then sent back to
secret CIA servers. One document appears to show the CIA was trying to
“infect” vehicle control systems in cars and trucks for unspecified
means.
WikiLeaks hinted that the capabilites revealed in Tuesday's disclosure could have even darker utility than simply spying.
“It would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations,” the release stated. FLASHBACK: WIKILEAKS REVEALS CLINTON 'HITS' FILE ON SANDERS
The site said the CIA additionally failed to disclose
security vulnerabilities and bugs to major U.S. software manufacturers,
violating an Obama administration commitment made in January 2014.
Instead, the agency used the software vulnerabilities -- which could
also be exploited by rival agencies, nations and groups -- for its own
ends, WikiLeaks said.
“As an example, specific CIA malware revealed in
‘Year Zero’ is able to penetrate, infest and control both the Android
phone and iPhone software that runs or has run presidential Twitter
accounts,” the WikiLeaks release stated.
The agency allegedly maintains a database of malware
created in other nations -- WikiLeaks specifically cites Russia -- in
order to disguise its own hacking attempts as the work of another group.
In what is described by WikiLeaks as "one of the most
astounding intelligence own goals in living memory," the CIA is said to
have made most of its programs unclassified to avoid legal consequences
for transmitting classified information through the Internet -- a move
that increased the risk of outside groups pirating the cyber spying
tools.
WikiLeaks also revealed the U.S. Consulate in
Frankfurt is a hacking base, and the website provided the methods by
which agents obfuscate customs officers to gain entry to Germany,
pretending to provide technical consultation.
WikiLeaks said its source released the files because
they believed questions surrounding the CIA’s reach “urgently need to be
debated in public,” echoing the motives of many previous leakers.
Some of the files include redacted information, such
as tens “of thousands of CIA targets and attack machines throughout
Latin America, Europe and the United States.”
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