WikiLeaks plans release of CIA hacking tools to private tech companies

[William Gayde]

Just days after WikiLeaks published thousands of pages worth of details on the CIA's hacking toolkit, Julian Assange is planning to release those tools to tech companies. The WikiLeaks report describes many tools and vulnerabilities that the CIA has used including exploits for iPhone, Android, Windows, and Samsung TVs to name a few. The leak featured code snippets and high level descriptions of the attacks but didn't include the full programs or computer code.

Assange is planning on sharing these key details exclusively with the companies whose products are vulnerable, so they can work together in defeating the CIA's hacking arsenal. In a live streamed press conference, Assange stated that "considering what we think is the best way to proceed and hearing these calls from some of the manufacturers, we have decided to work with them to give them some exclusive access to the additional technical details that we have so that the fixes can be developed and pushed out, so people can be secure."

Major security revelations like this one are a difficult subject and put the government in a tricky position with private companies. Should the government hold on to the exploits so they can be used against cyber enemies like Russia, China, and North Korea? Should they release them to tech companies so the flaws can be patched? Julian Assange isn't seen as the most trustworthy person by the US government, so relying on him for critical information like this is unnerving to officials and lawmakers.

Microsoft and Cisco are welcoming the submissions through their standard vulnerability reporting channels, but have not been contacted yet by Assange. Google, Apple, and Samsung on the other hand did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters.

Assange has maintained that he has a lot more information than what's been already released and is planning on sharing it soon. Most industry analysts believe the leaks came from contractors that worked with the CIA which has many US intelligence officials as well as President Trump worried. The CIA knew of the breaches late last year and Trump "believes that the systems at the CIA are outdated and need to be updated."

Whatever happens, patching security vulnerabilities in widely used systems is always a good thing. Manufacturers will take these kind of submissions no matter what, even if they come from unorthodox sources.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/68463-wikileaks-plans-release-cia-hacking-tools-private-tech.html

 

[Uncle Al]

My bet is that, since he is in self-excile in the country of England, the CIA will be making a concerted effort to capture or kill him this year, but that would be fruitless since his Army of hackers would soon have somebody step forward to continue the efforts. This is just a new dynamic of the tech-age that isn't going to change no matter the law, threat of death, etc, etc.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

My bet is that, since he is in self-excile in the country of England, the CIA will be making a concerted effort to capture or kill him this year, but that would be fruitless since his Army of hackers would soon have somebody step forward to continue the efforts. This is just a new dynamic of the tech-age that isn't going to change no matter the law, threat of death, etc, etc.

It sounds like they haven't managed to pinpoint him and slit his throat just yet so how good can the CIA's hacking tools be if one man can keep making fools of them?

 

[havok585]

William Gayde, why are you lying trough your teeth? He never said he will release the tools, just the vulnerabilities the tools target !

 

[Yynxs]

Please let me assure you. The CIA does not want Assange dead. He is an immensely useful tool (sic). If the CIA wanted him dead, he would already be dead.

Wherever he thinks he's hiding and from whom, it's not the CIA.

From the newspaper reporting, I'm thinking the FSB doesn't want him dead either and I have no direct knowledge of either of their staffs or agendas.

Whether this latest 'prank' gets his status as 'useful tool' reviewed by any of the big 4 is a good question for twitter crowd bets. I'm betting he lives, but the Cayman funding gets cut.

 

[Evernessince]

My bet is that, since he is in self-excile in the country of England, the CIA will be making a concerted effort to capture or kill him this year, but that would be fruitless since his Army of hackers would soon have somebody step forward to continue the efforts. This is just a new dynamic of the tech-age that isn't going to change no matter the law, threat of death, etc, etc.

You mean Russia's Army of Hackers? It's already been proven that the files leaked by WikiLeaks were encoded in the Russia language and the hacking tools and patterns matched perfectly with those from Russia. Not to mention, it's pretty glaring that only one country stands to benefit, so it kind of narrows it down.

Trump gets in hot water, Wikileaks "leaks" documents as a distraction so that everyone forgets that Trump accused the former president of wiretapping with Zero evidence and only just asked his agencies to just gathering "potential" evidence. Same thing happened on the campaign trail, Trump literally asks Russia to hack and they do. Funny enough, the Russian Ambassador that had contact with nearly everyone on the Trump team went to the RNC but not the DNC. It's already been confirmed by the former US Ambassador to Russia that this is unusual as an Ambassador remains neutral. If they are to attend something like that they would also be required to spend time with the other political factions.

Julian Assange lost the last shred of credibility he had when he made a promise to turn himself in if Chelsea Manning got clemency. She did and he backtracked. Not surprising giving he's is currently hiding from rape charges.

To be honest though nothing in the CIA leak was surprising. It would be worse if the CIA didn't have hacking tools or if they weren't trying to hack the latest tech.

 

[Used Rugs]

Wikileaks is nothing more than the PR department of the Russian intelligence agency

 

[Yynxs]

You mean Russia's Army of Hackers? It's already been proven that the files leaked by WikiLeaks were encoded in the Russia language and the hacking tools and patterns matched perfectly with those from Russia. Not to mention, it's pretty glaring that only one country stands to benefit, so it kind of narrows it down.

Trump gets in hot water, Wikileaks "leaks" documents as a distraction so that everyone forgets that Trump accused the former president of wiretapping with Zero evidence and only just asked his agencies to just gathering "potential" evidence. Same thing happened on the campaign trail, Trump literally asks Russia to hack and they do. Funny enough, the Russian Ambassador that had contact with nearly everyone on the Trump team went to the RNC but not the DNC. It's already been confirmed by the former US Ambassador to Russia that this is unusual as an Ambassador remains neutral. If they are to attend something like that they would also be required to spend time with the other political factions.

Julian Assange lost the last shred of credibility he had when he made a promise to turn himself in if Chelsea Manning got clemency. She did and he backtracked. Not surprising giving he's is currently hiding from rape charges.

To be honest though nothing in the CIA leak was surprising. It would be worse if the CIA didn't have hacking tools or if they weren't trying to hack the latest tech.

Everness, I know I'm certified tinhat (I wrote the cert), but please bear in mind, in Intel one does not do just the obvious (unless they're liberals and releasing White House secrets won't get them discovered ") ), so when you see Russian footprints (handprints?) on a tool don't presume that is the 'truth of it'.

My personal opinion (and I haven't done the full backtracking of keyboarding patterns yet to prove it) is: this entire brouhaha was engineered by the Samoans. No one is watching them or the island for SIGNINT and no one thinks their intelligence service has this capability. THAT is a sure sign of expertise and spy greateness. NEVER be what or where they think you are. Look at the evidence. Is anyone expecting Samoa?

 

[Evernessince]

Everness, I know I'm certified tinhat (I wrote the cert), but please bear in mind, in Intel one does not do just the obvious (unless they're liberals and releasing White House secrets won't get them discovered ") ), so when you see Russian footprints (handprints?) on a tool don't presume that is the 'truth of it'.

My personal opinion (and I haven't done the full backtracking of keyboarding patterns yet to prove it) is: this entire brouhaha was engineered by the Samoans. No one is watching them or the island for SIGNINT and no one thinks their intelligence service has this capability. THAT is a sure sign of expertise and spy greateness. NEVER be what or where they think you are. Look at the evidence. Is anyone expecting Samoa?

I wasn't referring to the tools, I was referring to the file Metadata.

Also, you should take your own advice. I at least provided evidence of my claims. You jump right to the conclusion that "liberals" are at fault for white house leaks. You do realize that allot of conservatives don't like Trump either, right?

 

[Yynxs]

I wasn't referring to the tools, I was referring to the file Metadata.

Also, you should take your own advice. I at least provided evidence of my claims. You jump right to the conclusion that "liberals" are at fault for white house leaks. You do realize that allot of conservatives don't like Trump either, right?

yeah..ok...cause I was referring to only the tools. As to the White House, you've lost your sense of humor and reality. If it was Intel conservatives disliking Trump, they'll be caught with their weewee in something soon and 'resign'. Liberals don't resign for that, hell, they get an announcer spot on CNN for that and speaking engagements. Has to be a liberal looking for a new job in press. .)

Remember, no one expected Samoan Intel. You read it here first.

 

[Yynxs]

Just to show I read this stuff, literally immediately below my last post is this link:

https://www.techspot.com/community/topics/cia-working-with-amazon-to-develop-private-cloud.190797/
CIA working with Amazon to develop private cloud
RickMar 19, 2013
According to a report by FCW, Amazon has been entrusted to build a "private" cloud computing system for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA is rumored to be outsourcing the task to Amazon in hopes of reducing its operating...

Now their hacking tools start to appear. Hmmm.

As I said in another post, the cloud is a security and privacy nightmare.

 

[jaxonian]

For a long time I was sympathetic to this guy's antics. He was entertaining, no more than that, until he decided to f**k with our election and move us toward our current oligarchy. In doing that, he declared himself an enemy of all of us who have actually earned the right to vote. So screw him. But then, we all know the CIA has rigged elections in more countries than we can count. So in a sense there's little question that we've earned this. Still, no longer amused by Assange. And I do think he's become or maybe always been a tool of Putin.

 

[Used Rugs]

Wikileaks is nothing more than the PR department of the Russian intelligence agency.

 

[Underdog]

I guess its comforting to have someone like the Russians to blame for all the bad stuff that happens in the US. Gives you a focus like Hitler focussed on the Jews as the scapegoat for all the pooh Germany was in at the time.

 

[Used Rugs]

I guess its comforting to have someone like the Russians to blame for all the bad stuff that happens in the US. Gives you a focus like Hitler focussed on the Jews as the scapegoat for all the pooh Germany was in at the time.

I guess it's easy for some to believe the FSB and Putin over our American Intelligence agencies.

 

[Underdog]

Yes it is. Particularly when you get away from the brainwash that you get from school age into adulthood by leaving the US and living anywhere in the rest of the big wide world. You get a much better view of what is going on. It is all a question of balance. Once you are clear on the "motives" behind the actions things begin to make sense.

 

[bluto 2050]