The CIA’s spying arsenal
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks published thousands of documents it claims shows how the CIA is hacking phones, televisions, and even vehicles.
SAMSUNG SMART TVS
WikiLeaks claims the CIA worked with U.K. intelligence officials to turn microphones in Samsung Smart TVs into listening devices. Samsung Smart TVs have microphones so viewers can make voice commands, such as requests for movie recommendations. WikiLeaks claims that through a program called Weeping Angel — named after a Doctor Who villain — the target TV appears to be off when it is actually on — and listening. “After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a ‘Fake-Off’ mode, so that the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on. In ‘FakeOff ’ mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server,” says WikiLeaks.
IPHONES
The CIA’s Mobile Devices Branch (MDB) is hacking smartphones, says WikiLeaks. A special unit produces “malware to infest, control and exfiltrate data from iPhones and other Apple products running iOS, such as iPads,” it says. “The disproportionate focus on iOS may be explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political, diplomatic and business elites,” says WikiLeaks.
ANDROID
The CIA also has a special department targeting Google’s Android and has developed techniques “to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Wiebo, Confide and Cloackman by hacking the ‘smart’ phones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before encryption is applied.”
WINDOWS
WikiLeaks claims the CIA “runs a very substantial effort to infect and control” Microsoft Windows users with malware. A virus called “Hammer Drill” infects software distributed by CD/ DVDs while “Brutal Kangaroo” is a system to hide data in images or in covert disk areas, says WikiLeaks. Meanwhile, HIVE “is a multi-platform CIA malware suite” providing customizable implants for Windows and Linux platforms among others.
VEHICLES
“As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks. The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations,” says WikiLeaks in a press release.
VULNERABLE
WikiLeaks claims the CIA is able to hack devices by exploiting vulnerabilities that it conceals from manufacturers such as Apple and Google. “By hiding these security flaws from manufacturers like Apple and Google the CIA ensures that it can hack everyone at the expense of leaving everyone hackable,” it says.
FINE DINING
“The CIA attack system Fine Dining, provides 24 decoy applications for CIA spies to use,” says WikiLeaks. Spies insert a USB containing malware into a targeted computer — such as a police record database. “To witnesses, the spy appears to be running a program showing videos (e.g. VLC), presenting slides (Prezi), playing a computer game (Breakout 2, 2048) or even running a fake virus scanner (Kaspersky, McAfee, Sophos). But while the decoy application is on the screen, the underlaying system is automatically infected and ransacked,” says WikiLeaks.
FRANKFURT
The U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a covert base for CIA hackers covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says WikiLeaks.