A new dump of documents by anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks has resulted in revelations that devices produced by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) have been covertly turned into listening devices by a "covert hacking program" conducted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. More than 8,000 documents are said to be included in the WikiLeaks dump.
What Zero Hedge described as "perhaps the most notable" information to come to light as a result of the documents is the existence of a "Snowden-type whistleblower." The source is said to wish to start a "debate" surrounding the "security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons."
A tweet by Kim Dotcom refers to the revelation that the CIA has the ability to make it appear that hacks originated from an "enemy state." Dotcom stated that it turns the allegations by the Democratic National Committee and the CIA that the organization was hacked by Russian operatives "a JOKE."
WikiLeaks 'Vault 7' details smart TV hack
One of the techniques used by the CIA to spy on targets was reportedly called "Weeping Angel," said to be produced by the agency's "Embedded Devices Branch." The technique is said to "infest" smart TVs, allowing conversations to be recorded, even when the television appears to be turned off.
Dotcom added that the CIA has covertly turned every computer running Windows "into spyware," and stated that the agency can "activate backdoors on demand, including via Windows Update."
Edward Snowden is a 33-year-old, former systems administrator, who worked for National Security Agency contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. While performing work for the NSA, Snowden became aware of a systematic global surveillance program that intruded upon the rights of U.S. and other citizens.
Snowden offered to make secret NSA documents revealing the intrusions available to members of the press, which he did at the same time he fled the United States, seeking asylum overseas. Edward Snowden is currently living in a secret location in Russia, where the Telegraph reports that he has been granted asylum until 2020.
More code than Facebook
WikiLeaks is said to claim that the arsenal of malware, spyware, weaponized 'zero day' exploits, and other hacks possessed by the CIA has spread to the point that the agency has "lost control" of millions of lines of computer code that "gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA." Over 5,000 programmers were said to have been involved with the production of over 1,000 "hacking systems," which required the use of more lines of code than the Facebook website.
It has been suggested that all of the CIA's hacking techniques could be, or become, at the disposal of "rival states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike." Zero Hedge described the program as the CIA's "own NSA."