Leaks reveal secrets of CIA
IN WHAT appears to be the largest leak of CIA documents in history, WikiLeaks released on Tuesday thousands of pages describing sophisticated software tools and techniques used by the agency to break into smartphones, computers and even internet-connected televisions.
The documents amount to a detailed, highly technical catalogue of tools. They include instructions for compromising a wide range of common computer tools for use in spying: the online calling service Skype; WiFi networks; documents in PDF format; and even commercial antivirus programs of the kind used by millions of people to protect their computers.
A program called Wrecking Crew explains how to crash a targeted computer, and another tells how to steal passwords using the autocomplete function on Internet Explorer. Other programs were called CrunchyLimeSkies, ElderPiggy, AngerQuake and McNugget.
The document dump was the latest coup for the antisecrecy organisation and a serious blow to the CIA, which uses its hacking abilities to carry out espionage against foreign targets.
The initial release, which WikiLeaks said was only the first installment in a larger collection of secret CIA material, included 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments, many of them partly redacted by WikiLeaks editors to avoid disclosing the actual code for cyberweapons. The entire CONTINUED
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