WikiLeaks released thousands of documents described as secret files on the CIA's cyber espionage tools used by the government to illegally access computers, mobile phones and even interactive TVs from companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung.
The documents describe clandestine methods to overcome or violate encryption, antivirus tools and other security protection devices designed to keep private information private to citizens and corporations. Federal government employees, including President Donald Trump, use many of those same Internet products and services allegedly violated by tools.
The documents describe CIA efforts - in cooperation with friendly foreign governments and the US National Security Agency - to illegally access the world's most popular technology platforms, including Apple iPhones and iPads, Google's Android phones , And Microsoft's Windows operating system for desktop and laptop computers.
The documents also include discussions about altering some TVs connected to the internet to turn them into listening stations. A document talks about hacking vehicle systems and indicates the CIA's interest in hacking modern cars that have complex computers aboard.
WikiLeaks has a long history of publishing secret government documents, and experts who sift through the material said it looks authentic.
Republican lawmaker Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he was very concerned about the release of the documents and asked the intelligence community for more information.
Mike Hayden, former CIA director, told MSNBC that he had only made a hasty review of the documents, but that if they were intended to be, it would represent "a very extensive archive of tactics, techniques, procedures, objectives and other political guidelines "Under which the CIA hacks targets. "If so, it would be very, very damaging," he said.
Jonathan Liu, a CIA spokesman, said: "We do not comment on the authenticity or content of alleged intelligence documents." White House spokesman Sean Spicer also declined to comment.
What does not appear in the new WikiLeaks information set are the tools themselves, some of which were developed by cyber government hackers while others were compared to outside actors. WikiLeaks said it plans to avoid distributing the tools "until a consensus emerges" on the political nature of the CIA program and on how much software could be analyzed, deactivated and published.
The disclosure on Tuesday left consumers using products with little protection, as repairing software vulnerabilities in ways that could block the effectiveness of tools is the responsibility of leading technology companies. The revelations threatened to overturn confidence in a President Barack Obama era government program, the Vulnerability Equities Process, under which federal agencies warn technology companies about weaknesses in their software so they can fix them quickly.
It was not immediately clear how WikiLeaks got that information, which included more than 8,700 documents and archives. If these manuals are authentic, this could generate suspicions among the population towards their electronic devices such as cell phones, computers and even their interactive TVs.
WikiLeaks said the material came from "an isolated high security network located inside the CIA's Ciber Intelligence Center in Langley, Virginia." He did not reveal how the files were stolen, whether it was a rebel employee, a hacking by a CIA contractor or the theft of a server where such tools are sometimes stored.
"The file apparently was circulating between former federal government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of which provided WikiLeaks with portions of the file," WikiLeaks said in a statement.
source: noticias.terra.com
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