Wednesday, March 08, 2017

WaPo: WikiLeaks says it has obtained trove of CIA hacking tools



From the Washington Post:
WikiLeaks, which claimed to have gotten the files from a current or former CIA contractor, touted the trove as comparable in scale and significance to the collection of National Security Agency documents exposed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. 
But while the Snowden files revealed massive surveillance programs that gathered data on millions of Americans, the CIA documents posted so far by WikiLeaks appear mainly to unmask hacking methods that many experts already assumed the agency had developed. 
U.S. intelligence officials and experts said details contained in the newly released documents suggest that they are legitimate, although that could not be independently verified, raising new worries about the U.S. government’s ability to safeguard its secrets in an era of cascading leaks of classified data. 
The files mention pieces of malware with names like “Assassin” and “Medusa” that seem drawn from a spy film, describing tools that the CIA uses to steal data from iPhones, seize control of Microsoft-powered computers or even make Internet-connected Samsung television sets secretly function as microphones. 
The release of so many sensitive files appeared to catch the CIA, the White House and other government entities off-guard. A CIA spokesman would say only that “we do not comment on the authenticity of purported intelligence documents.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...



BREAKING: Podesta emails prove that Hillary and Obama were planning to spread the "Trump is involved w/ Russia" lies since April! #Vault7

https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/839255262066171905/photo/1

(note: Podesta e-mail dated 4/27/2016 and mentions Dimitri Simes)


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The timing of that Podesta email coincides with the April 27, 2016 foreign policy speech Trump gave:
"On Wednesday, April 27, the Center for the National Interest’s magazine "The National Interest" hosted leading Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump for a foreign policy speech as a part of its continuing coverage of the 2016 electoral campaign. Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Afghanistan and Iraq, introduced Mr. Trump. Ambassador Khalilzad is also one of the members of The National Interest advisory council and the Center’s board of directors. Center Chairman General Charles Boyd, board members Drew Guff, Grover Norquist and President Dimitri Simes also took part. Other participants included Senator Jeff Sessions, several Members of the House of Representatives and the ambassadors of Italy, the Philippines, Russia and Singapore.