On Tuesday, March 7th, the global whistle-blowing organization Wikileaks released the first full dataset from its Vault 7CIA collection of sensitive intergovernmental documents. Described by the organization as Year Zero, this latest release focuses on the United States' Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) global cyber operations. Comprised of an expansive 8,761 documents in total, CIA Vault 7 is being described as the largest and most detailed leak of CIA documents to date.
Global whistle-blowing organization Wikileaks continues its crusade
Among the startling revelations contained within the press release offered by Wikileaks in connection to CIA Vault 7 (CIAV7), the organization asserts that elements and instruments of the Central Intelligence Agency's global cyber intelligence gathering efforts including "malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized "zero day" exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation" have been circulating internationally in an unauthorized manner.
These tools, central to the agency's cyber security efforts contain a wealth of highly sophisticated spying and hacking related instruments, programs and platforms.
Wikileaks suggests that it was able to access the CIAV7 cache due to the dedicated whistleblowing efforts of an as of yet unnamed current or former U.S. cyber intelligence professional. The organization claims that the source of this information has made it available in an effort to "initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyber weapons."
Among other revelations contained within the Yero Zero dataset are documents outlining the usage of CIA-sanctioned malware in global consumer electronics such as Apple iPhones, Google Android phones, and Samsung smart TVs; additionally, software and hardware applications such as Windows, Linux, and server based hacking tools are described in depth.
There is also a series of documents contained within this cache which are described as outlining the United State's consulate in Frankfurt, Germany as a covert cyber security hub and access point for CIA hacking human capital into the European Union.
What will the rest of the documents in Wikileaks CIA Vault 7 series outline?
This latest offering follows a previous cache which was unveiled on February 16th, 2017. Those documents, the first from the larger CIAV7 collection, outlined the CIA's efforts to gather intelligence pertaining to the principal state actors involved in the 2012 French Presidential Elections.
It is beyond the scope of this article to outline all of the subject areas contained within CIA Vault 7 and the Year Zero release. Nonetheless, the full, downloadable, text archives of these releases are being hosted on Wikileaks international website.
