BBC: WikiLeaks Claims CIA Has Tools to Snoop Via TVs, Phones

WikiLeaks reports that the US Central Intelligence Agency has amassed a wide range of hacking tools for televisions, phones and consumer products that rely on the internet. “The alleged cyber-weapons are said to include malware that targets Windows, Android, iOS, OSX and Linux computers as well as internet routers,” reports Leo Kelion for BBC News. “Some of the software is reported to have been developed in-house, but the UK's MI5 agency is said to have helped build a spyware attack for Samsung TVs.” The WikiLeaks release explains: “Recently, the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized 'zero day' exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.” The source, in providing the files to WikiLeaks, questioned the agency’s mandate to develop and use such programs. For example, some Samsung televisions appeared to be off but were actually secretly recording information that was relayed once the wireless went back on. Other programs were based on security flaws in the devices, and the tools allowed spies to read messages on Whatsapp, Weibo and other chat services. The report suggests that the agency searches for ways to enter computer-control systems of vehicles and developed attacks against anti-virus products. The tech firms are responding to patch vulnerabilities. – YaleGlobal