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The anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks said Tuesday that it has obtained a vast portion of the CIA's computer hacking arsenal, and began posting the files online in a breach that may expose some of the U.S. intelligence community's most closely guarded cyber weapons.
A statement from WikiLeaks indicated that it planned to post nearly 9,000 files describing code developed in secret by the CIA to steal data from targets overseas and turn ordinary devices including cellphones, computers and even television sets into surveillance tools.
The hacking organisation made the statement as it announced a huge release of confidential documents from the CIA as part of its mysterious Year Zero series, founder Julian Assange claimed. The group said that from October 2014 the CIA was "looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks" to enable them to "engage in nearly undetectable assassinations."
takyon: WikiLeaks: Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed and (selected document) Weeping Angel (Extending) Engineering Notes. Also at NYT, USA Today, BBC, and Reuters. The Hill reports that Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu has called for an investigation... into the leak of the documents and tools.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 08 2017, @04:19AM
And who exactly is that? As a citizen of the USA, I'm reasonably certain I don't in fact benefit from the power of the US government abroad: For instance, if you're going to tell me that gas costs me $2 per gallon rather than the $7 per gallon most of the world pays, I'll point out that the amount of tax money I end up contributing to pay for the military and intel to secure that power that lowers the gas price is far more than the $5 per gallon I save.
And on top of that, there's a reasonable question as to whether the CIA has in fact furthered the power of the USA, or done more harm than good in their constant efforts to, for instance, overthrow and/or kill elected leaders of foreign countries. What did the USA gain by killing Mohammed Mossaddegh and Salvadore Allende? How about trying to take out Fidel Castro over 500 times? Or more recently, how exactly did killing Osama bin Laden expand the power of the United States?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.