WikiLeaks says CIA hacking unit cracked smartphones and TVs worldwide

[Razer]

“These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, 
Signal, Telegram, Weibo, Confide and Cloackman(sic) by hacking the 
smartphones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic 
before encryption is applied,”

McClatchy:

> The CIA has built up a formidable hacking division that has amassed 
> ways to control smartphones worldwide and turn on the microphones in 
> Samsung smart televisions, WikiLeaks said Tuesday.
>
> WikiLeaks released <https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/> what it said were 
> 8,761 documents taken from the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence in 
> Langley, Virginia, in what it described as “the largest intelligence 
> publication in history.”
>
> The documents indicate that the CIA has collected “more than a 
> thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses and other ‘weaponized’ 
> malware” that allow the agency to overcome encryption and seize 
> control of devices from the biggest tech firms worldwide, including 
> Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. It said the CIA had purposefully 
> withheld information from the manufacturers about the vulnerabilities 
> in their systems, undermining a promise offered by former President 
> Barack Obama to the high-tech industry.
>
> A CIA spokesman declined to say whether the purported leak was real.
>
> “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported 
> intelligence documents,” spokesman Jonathan Liu said.
>
> The WikiLeaks documents, which it said span a period from 2013 to 
> 2016, reveal an arsenal of malware and dozens of “zero day” exploits 
> against a wide range of products, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s 
> Android, Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung smart televisions, which 
> are turned into covert microphones.
>
> Some of the tools would allow the CIA to hack and control popular 
> smartphones, including the iPhone, giving remote operators access to 
> the phone’s location and its audio and text communications, and 
> permitting covert activation of the camera and microphone.
>
> While iPhones compose only 14.5 percent of the global smartphone 
> market, WikiLeaks said the focus on Apple’s iOS operating system “may 
> be explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political, 
> diplomatic and business elites.”
>
> The documents indicate that the CIA controlled 24 different 
> vulnerabilities for Google’s Android operating system, which is used 
> in 5 out of 6 smartphones worldwide.
>
> “These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, 
> Signal, Telegram, Weibo, Confide and Cloackman by hacking the 
> smartphones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic 
> before encryption is applied,” WikiLeaks said.
>
> The anti-secrecy organization said it had obtained the documents from 
> someone associated with the 5,000 hackers in the Center for Cyber 
> Intelligence who objected to its lack of accountability and 
> duplication of efforts with the National Security Agency, a rival 
> intelligence arm.
>
> “The source wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, 
> creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyber weapons,” 
> WikiLeaks said.


http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article136906453.html