WASHINGTON -- WikiLeaks published thousands of secret CIA files on Tuesday detailing hacking tools the government employs to break into users’ computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs.
Some companies that manufacture smart TVs include Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung.
The documents describe clandestine methods for bypassing or defeating encryption, antivirus tools and other protective security features intended to keep the private information of citizens and corporations safe from prying eyes. U.S. government employees, including President Trump, use many of the same products and internet services purportedly compromised by the tools.
“This is CIA’s Edward Snowden,” former CIA acting director Michael Morrell told CBS News Justice correspondent Jeff Pegues, referring to the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked millions of documents in 2013.
“This is huge, in terms of what it will tell the adversaries,” Morrell said. “We’ll have to essentially start over in building tools to get information from our adversaries, just like we did with Snowden.”
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The documents describe CIA efforts -- cooperating with friendly foreign governments and the NSA -- to subvert the world’s most popular technology platforms.
Some of the products affected include Apple’s iPhones and iPads, Google’s Android phones and Microsoft Windows operating system (desktop and laptops).
Details of WikiLeaks’ document release
Largest publication of confidential documents about the CIA
Code-named “Vault7”
Part 1 includes 8,761 documents from CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence
Reveals direction of global hacking program
Information on agency’s malware arsenal
Claims that CIA used products like iPhones and smart TVs as covert microphones
Claims that the CIA used its Langley HQ and U.S. consulate in Frankfurt, Germany as bases for its hackers
Broad exchanges of tools and information among the CIA, NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies
