WikiLeaks has published a new series of leaks on the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The dramatic release was announced Monday on the organisation’s official Twitter, run by its founder Julian Assange.
If it does prove legitimate, the dump will represent yet another catastrophic breach for the US intelligence community.
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But the mystery began long before, when the organization posted a series of tweets asking: what, when, who, why, where, how did, mentioning a mysterious name code Vault 7.
What is #Vault7? pic.twitter.com/PrjBU0LSAF
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 4, 2017
Where is #Vault7? pic.twitter.com/1HTTYQrrIN
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 5, 2017
When is #Vault7? pic.twitter.com/qwef6ysU3b
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 6, 2017
Who is #Vault7? pic.twitter.com/Bj0Uz48bEp
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 7, 2017
Why is #Vault7? pic.twitter.com/9oyv59Usfk
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 8, 2017
How did #Vault7 make its way to WikiLeaks? pic.twitter.com/9lbEPhkR6w
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 9, 2017
This morning the official Twitter account has just posted an encrypted release with the name: ENCRYPTED RELEASE
ENCRYPTED RELEASE
Use a ‘torrent’ downloader on: https://t.co/gpBxJAoYD5
And ‘7z’ to decrypt.
Passphrase will be made public at Tue 9am ET. pic.twitter.com/MxZQtoaCMK— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 7, 2017
The controversial organization uses code names such as ‘Vault 7’ and ‘Year Zero’, and claims the release is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.
A statement by WikiLeaks says that the first part of the series, called:”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.
‘Year Zero’, according to the group, introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program. Its malware arsenal and dozens of ‘zero day’ weaponized created by the CIA, allegedly to further U.S. surveillance. In addition to exploits against a wide range of US and European company products. including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, “which are turned into covert microphones”.
The group says the documents had been circulating among hackers who had worked for the U.S. government, one of whom gave them access to “portions of the archive,”
According to the press release 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.
“There is an extreme proliferation risk in the development of cyber ‘weapons’.” says Assange.
