Unic Press UK: WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing organisation that divulges classified information and leaks secret data [of governments, individuals, firms and government agencies] from a range of anonymous sources, on Tuesday released “Vault7” – thousands of files allegedly belonging to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Highlights of “Vault7” as alleged by WikiLeaks
- The CIA operates a covert hacking base in the United States consulate in Frankfurt, Germany.
- The CIA’s secret hacking division produced a deluge of weaponized malware to infest iPhone, Android, smart Television, and several other electronic devices.
- The CIA’s programs involved finding diverse ways to use Google Android, smart TVs, smartphones, Apple IOS and many other electronic devices, as spying tools.
The whistle-blower said in a press release:
“Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.
“The first full part of the series, “Year Zero”, comprises 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virgina. It follows an introductory disclosure last month of CIA targeting French political parties and candidates in the lead up to the 2012 presidential election.
“Recently, the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized “zero day” exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.
“Year Zero” introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of “zero day” weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.”
Jonathan Liu, a spokesman for the CIA, reacting to the release of “Vault7”, said: “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents.”
