CIA hacks phones, smart TVs, WhatsApp – WikiLeaks

CIA hacks phones, smart TVs, WhatsApp – WikiLeaks

The CIA can turn your TV into a listening device, bypass popular encryption apps , and possibly control your car , according to a trove of documents published by WikiLeaks Tuesday which it said came from the US spy agency .
WikiLeaks said the documents show that the Central Intelligence Agency is rivalling the National Security Agency , the US government ’ s main electronic spying body , in cyber warfare, but with less oversight.
The group posted nearly 9 , 000 documents it said came from the CIA , calling it the largest- ever publication of secret intelligence materials .
The CIA would neither confirm nor deny the documents were genuine, or comment on their content.
“ We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents , ” said spokesman Jonathan Liu in an email .
– Cyber weapons ‘proliferation ’ –
WikiLeaks claimed that a vast trove of CIA documents representing “ the majority of its hacking arsenal ” had been leaked within the cyber security community — and that it had received , and released , a part of them.
“ This extraordinary collection , which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code , gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA , ” it said .
“ The archive appears to have been circulated among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorised manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive . ”
WikiLeaks said the documents show the CIA has produced more than 1 , 000 malware systems — viruses , trojans , and other software that can infiltrate and take control of target electronics .
These hacking tools have targeted iPhones, Android systems such as the personal phone reportedly still used by President Donald Trump , popular Microsoft software , and Samsung smart TVs , which can be transformed into covert microphones, according to WikiLeaks.
The agency has also examined hacking into the electronic control systems on cars and trucks , potentially making it able to control them.
By infecting smartphones, WikiLeaks said , the CIA can get around the encryption technologies of popular apps like WhatsApp, Signal , Telegram , Weibo , and Confide by collecting communications before they are encrypted.
WikiLeaks said the documents ’ leak suggests that the CIA has not sufficiently controlled its own cyber weapons, potentially permitting them to fall into the hands of other hackers .
“ Many of the vulnerabilities used in the CIA ’ s cyber arsenal are pervasive and some may already have been found by rival intelligence agencies or cyber criminals , ” WikiLeaks said .
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.
“ Comparisons can be drawn between the uncontrolled proliferation of such ‘ weapons’ , which results from the inability to contain them combined with their high market value and the global arms trade, ” he said .