In what it’s calling the “largest ever publication of confidential documents” from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Wikileaks claims it has released thousands of files from a “high-security network” located inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.
The dump is the first in a series called “Year Zero,” which will detail the CIA’s cyber weaponry, according to Wikileaks’ press release. The source of the files is allegedly a former government hacker or contractor. Wikileaks says the source wants to spark a public debate “about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons.”
The massive file released by Wikileaks appears to contain millions of lines of code, referencing programs with ambiguous names like “Medusa” and “HIVE.”
According to Wikileaks’ own analysis of the cache, the CIA has been operating a program targeting iPhones, Androids and smart TVs. One of the CIA’s programs can turn smart TVs into “covert microphones” for spying, Wikileaks says. The files also allegedly contain details about the agency’s ability to collect data from machines running Apple’s iOS.
One of the pieces of “malware,” as Wikileaks refers to the CIA programs, supposedly gave the CIA the ability “to penetrate infest and control both the Android phone and iPhone software that runs or has run presidential Twitter accounts.” Wikileaks admonishes the CIA for keeping these security vulnerabilities private under the logic that “they will not be fixed, and the [public’s] phones will remain hackable.”
Another potentially shocking leak from the dump is the assertion that the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, operates as a “covert CIA hacker base.” Wikileaks alleges that agents get into Germany under the guise of providing technical consultations for the American consulate but are then given “black” passports that allow them to travel freely through the Shengen open border area, which covers a number of different countries in central and western Europe.
Started in 2006, Wikileaks is run by the controversial Julian Assange. The site has consistently been a thorn in the U.S. government’s side. The site has been behind the Iraq and Afghan War documents leak that provided details on U.S. military attacks with high civilian casualties; details of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program, “Cablegate;” and, most recently, hacked e-mails from members of the Democratic National Committee prior to the 2016 presidential election.
After the release of the Democratic Party’s e-mails, some accused Wikileaks of colluding with the Russian government. After an investigation of the hack, a cyber security firm traced the source of the hack to two Russian hacking groups with possible funding from Vladimir Putin.
Wikileak’s disclosure will be another test for President Trump in his first 100 days. Throughout the 2016 campaign, Wikileaks served as a de facto ally for the president, with Trump going as far as proclaiming that he “loves Wikileaks” during an October rally in Pennsylvania.