lo yeeOn
2017-03-07 19:14:29 UTC
Wikileaks' Vault 7 Dump - CIA's hacking tool set in collaboration with
the UK's MI5:
WikiLeaks, in a statement, said: "The attack against Samsung smart
TVs was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom's
MI5/BTSS. After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a
"Fake Off" mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off
when it is on. In "Fake Off" mode the TV operates as a bug,
recording conversations in the room and sending them over the
internet to a covert CIA server."
WikiLeaks publishes 'biggest ever leak of secret CIA documents'
The 8,761 documents published by WikiLeaks focus mainly on techniques
for hacking and surveillance
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/07/wikileaks-publishes-biggest-ever-leak-of-secret-cia-documents-hacking-surveillance
The leaks, dubbed "Vault 7", by WikiLeaks, will once again raise
questions about the inability of US spy agencies to protect secret
documents in the digital age. It follows disclosures about Afghanistan
and Iraq by army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning in 2010 and
about the National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ by Edward
Snowden in 2013.
The documents appear to be from the CIA's 200-strong Center for Cyber
Intelligence and show in detail how the agency's digital specialists
engage in hacking.
According to the documents:
CIA hackers targeted smartphones and computers.
The Center for Cyber Intelligence is based at the CIA headquarters
in Virginia but it has a second covert base in the US consulate in
Frankfurt which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
A programme called Weeping Angel describes how to attack a Samsung
F8000 TV set so that it appears to be off but can still be used for
monitoring.
The CIA declined to comment on the leaks beyond the agency's now-stock
refusal to verify their contents. "We do not comment on the
authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents," wrote
CIA spokesperson Heather Fritz Horniak.
But it is understood the documents are genuine and a hunt is under way
for the leakers or hackers responsible for the leak.
Snowden, who is exile in Russia, said in a series of tweets the
documents seemed genuine and that only an insider could know this kind
of detail.
"Still working through the publication, but what @Wikileaks has here
is genuinely a big deal. Looks authentic."
He added: "If you're writing about the CIA/@Wikileaks story, here's
the big deal: first public evidence USG(US government) secretly paying
to keep US software unsafe." He described this as "reckless beyond
words".
The leaks come at an especially sensitive juncture, with the US
intelligence agencies involved in confrontation with the president,
Donald Trump, over alleged Russian hacking to influence the US
election.
The timing is helpful to Trump, potentially diverting - at least
temporarily - from the row engulfing the president over alleged links
between his team and Russia.
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, said the disclosures
were "exceptional from a political, legal and forensic perspective".
WikiLeaks has been criticised in the past for dumping documents on the
internet unredacted and this time the names of officials and other
information has been blacked out.
WikiLeaks shared the information in advance with Der Spiegel in
Germany and La Repubblica in Italy.
. . .
WikiLeaks, in a statement, said: "The attack against Samsung smart TVs
was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom's MI5/BTSS. After
infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a "Fake Off" mode,
so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In
"Fake Off" mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in
the room and sending them over the internet to a covert CIA server."
the UK's MI5:
WikiLeaks, in a statement, said: "The attack against Samsung smart
TVs was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom's
MI5/BTSS. After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a
"Fake Off" mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off
when it is on. In "Fake Off" mode the TV operates as a bug,
recording conversations in the room and sending them over the
internet to a covert CIA server."
WikiLeaks publishes 'biggest ever leak of secret CIA documents'
The 8,761 documents published by WikiLeaks focus mainly on techniques
for hacking and surveillance
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/07/wikileaks-publishes-biggest-ever-leak-of-secret-cia-documents-hacking-surveillance
The leaks, dubbed "Vault 7", by WikiLeaks, will once again raise
questions about the inability of US spy agencies to protect secret
documents in the digital age. It follows disclosures about Afghanistan
and Iraq by army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning in 2010 and
about the National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ by Edward
Snowden in 2013.
The documents appear to be from the CIA's 200-strong Center for Cyber
Intelligence and show in detail how the agency's digital specialists
engage in hacking.
According to the documents:
CIA hackers targeted smartphones and computers.
The Center for Cyber Intelligence is based at the CIA headquarters
in Virginia but it has a second covert base in the US consulate in
Frankfurt which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
A programme called Weeping Angel describes how to attack a Samsung
F8000 TV set so that it appears to be off but can still be used for
monitoring.
The CIA declined to comment on the leaks beyond the agency's now-stock
refusal to verify their contents. "We do not comment on the
authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents," wrote
CIA spokesperson Heather Fritz Horniak.
But it is understood the documents are genuine and a hunt is under way
for the leakers or hackers responsible for the leak.
Snowden, who is exile in Russia, said in a series of tweets the
documents seemed genuine and that only an insider could know this kind
of detail.
"Still working through the publication, but what @Wikileaks has here
is genuinely a big deal. Looks authentic."
He added: "If you're writing about the CIA/@Wikileaks story, here's
the big deal: first public evidence USG(US government) secretly paying
to keep US software unsafe." He described this as "reckless beyond
words".
The leaks come at an especially sensitive juncture, with the US
intelligence agencies involved in confrontation with the president,
Donald Trump, over alleged Russian hacking to influence the US
election.
The timing is helpful to Trump, potentially diverting - at least
temporarily - from the row engulfing the president over alleged links
between his team and Russia.
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, said the disclosures
were "exceptional from a political, legal and forensic perspective".
WikiLeaks has been criticised in the past for dumping documents on the
internet unredacted and this time the names of officials and other
information has been blacked out.
WikiLeaks shared the information in advance with Der Spiegel in
Germany and La Repubblica in Italy.
. . .
WikiLeaks, in a statement, said: "The attack against Samsung smart TVs
was developed in cooperation with the United Kingdom's MI5/BTSS. After
infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a "Fake Off" mode,
so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In
"Fake Off" mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in
the room and sending them over the internet to a covert CIA server."