WikiLeaks posted thousands of documents Tuesday purporting to reveal CIA hacking secrets, including suggestions that the spy agency is able to turn smart televisions into listening devices and defeat encrypted communications apps such as Signal or WhatsApp.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement that the files are the most comprehensive release of U.S. spying documents ever, even more significant than the huge trove of National Security Agency secrets exposed by former agency contractor Edward Snowden. Assange said the documents came to WikiLeaks from a U.S. intelligence contractor. WikiLeaks redacted the names of purported CIA officers and withheld other information it said might allow hackers to seize control of machines.
PSA: This incorrectly implies CIA hacked these apps / encryption. But the docs show iOS/Android are what got hacked – a much bigger problem. https://t.co/Bw9AkBpOdt
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
Regarding encrypted apps, WikiLeaks says that the CIA has the ability to bypass the encryption programs by infiltrating individual devices, thereby obtaining access to communications before they are encrypted.
