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posted by n1 on Tuesday April 11 2017, @05:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the [redacted] dept.

The hacking tools used by the Central Intelligence Agency may have been involved in at least 40 cyberattacks in 16 countries, according to security firm Symantec.

The company, which issued its report on Monday, based its conclusion on the disclosure of those tools by WikiLeaks last month. The documents showed how the spy agency was able to hack into phones, computers and even televisions to snoop on people. Reuters was the first to write about the report.

Symantec didn't directly blame the CIA for the hacks, which occurred at unspecified dates, according to Reuters. The company also told Reuters that the targets were all government entities or had legitimate national security value, and were based in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

[...] A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the Symantec report. The agency had previously declined to comment on the leaks themselves, only noting that "the American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the Intelligence Community's ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries. Such disclosures not only jeopardize US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm."

CNET is unable to verify whether the WikiLeaks documents are real or have been altered.

-- submitted from IRC

Also covered at Ars Technica.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @06:41AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @06:41AM (#492159)

    Insider threats are the main threats at these agencies. An employee can grow a conscience and dumps docs. But it's not enough. Some of the public is against whistleblowers and leakers, but most of it doesn't care. God Emperor Trump could have changed things but has shown to be committed to fighting terrorism and lone wolves like any other politician. Civil liberties are eroding. Almost all computers are compromised by design, and smartphones and IoT are worse. Soon, machine learning will tune up the surveillance state and make it easier than ever to track the "threats". The Empire will remain firmly place until a biologist finds a way to kill everybody.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @07:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @07:32AM (#492165)

    Machine learning you say? Death by spreadsheet :)