SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
WhatsApp and Signal, which offer end-to-end encrypted messaging, withstood the CIA's hacking efforts. (Photo: Sam Azgor/flickr/cc)
Officials Knew of CIA's Security Breach, Which Led to "Vault 7" Leaks, in 2016
WikiLeaks revelations show bright side to government surveillance: they can't hack into encrypted messaging apps
Mar 08, 2017
Intelligence officials told Reuters on Wednesday that they were aware as early as 2016 that the CIA had a security breach that led to the watchdog group WikiLeaks exposing the agency's surveillance tools.
The anonymous officials also said the documents, released in perhaps WikiLeaks' biggest expose yet, appeared to be authentic.
Reuters reports:
Investigators were focusing on CIA contractors as the likely source of passing materials to WikiLeaks, the officials said. The group published what it said were nearly 8,000 of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used between 2013 and 2016.
The leak, dubbed "Vault 7," appears to reveal that the CIA is capable of exploiting weaknesses in people's smart devices--from their phones to their TVs--to listen in on them. Apple on Tuesday vowed to "rapidly address" any security holes used by the agency.
As the fallout from the revelations continues, journalist Trevor Timm pointed to the silver lining on Wednesday, writing in an op-ed for the Guardian that the leaks show encrypted-messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp withstood the CIA's hacking efforts.
Timm writes:
[What the] documents do purport to show is that the CIA has a host of exploits to attack the operating systems of popular mobile devices like iPhones and Androids--a deeply worrying prospect, to be sure--but to "defeat" secure messaging apps, government hackers essentially have to gain access to your phone itself before they can read your messages.
So if you're using an app like Signal, the content of those communications are at least still likely protected from their vast surveillance nets that otherwise indiscriminately capture billions text messages and emails per day.
"With countless users switching over to end-to-end communications in recent years, it means intelligence agencies like the CIA must target individuals one by one, which, in turn, means the cost for each surveillance target goes up, and forces them to prioritize a much smaller number of people," he writes.
Moreover, these leaks may help fuel more public debate over the surveillance powers of our government, Timm adds, "whether the Trump administration likes it or not."
"But in the mean time," he writes, "download Signal."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Intelligence officials told Reuters on Wednesday that they were aware as early as 2016 that the CIA had a security breach that led to the watchdog group WikiLeaks exposing the agency's surveillance tools.
The anonymous officials also said the documents, released in perhaps WikiLeaks' biggest expose yet, appeared to be authentic.
Reuters reports:
Investigators were focusing on CIA contractors as the likely source of passing materials to WikiLeaks, the officials said. The group published what it said were nearly 8,000 of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used between 2013 and 2016.
The leak, dubbed "Vault 7," appears to reveal that the CIA is capable of exploiting weaknesses in people's smart devices--from their phones to their TVs--to listen in on them. Apple on Tuesday vowed to "rapidly address" any security holes used by the agency.
As the fallout from the revelations continues, journalist Trevor Timm pointed to the silver lining on Wednesday, writing in an op-ed for the Guardian that the leaks show encrypted-messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp withstood the CIA's hacking efforts.
Timm writes:
[What the] documents do purport to show is that the CIA has a host of exploits to attack the operating systems of popular mobile devices like iPhones and Androids--a deeply worrying prospect, to be sure--but to "defeat" secure messaging apps, government hackers essentially have to gain access to your phone itself before they can read your messages.
So if you're using an app like Signal, the content of those communications are at least still likely protected from their vast surveillance nets that otherwise indiscriminately capture billions text messages and emails per day.
"With countless users switching over to end-to-end communications in recent years, it means intelligence agencies like the CIA must target individuals one by one, which, in turn, means the cost for each surveillance target goes up, and forces them to prioritize a much smaller number of people," he writes.
Moreover, these leaks may help fuel more public debate over the surveillance powers of our government, Timm adds, "whether the Trump administration likes it or not."
"But in the mean time," he writes, "download Signal."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Intelligence officials told Reuters on Wednesday that they were aware as early as 2016 that the CIA had a security breach that led to the watchdog group WikiLeaks exposing the agency's surveillance tools.
The anonymous officials also said the documents, released in perhaps WikiLeaks' biggest expose yet, appeared to be authentic.
Reuters reports:
Investigators were focusing on CIA contractors as the likely source of passing materials to WikiLeaks, the officials said. The group published what it said were nearly 8,000 of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used between 2013 and 2016.
The leak, dubbed "Vault 7," appears to reveal that the CIA is capable of exploiting weaknesses in people's smart devices--from their phones to their TVs--to listen in on them. Apple on Tuesday vowed to "rapidly address" any security holes used by the agency.
As the fallout from the revelations continues, journalist Trevor Timm pointed to the silver lining on Wednesday, writing in an op-ed for the Guardian that the leaks show encrypted-messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp withstood the CIA's hacking efforts.
Timm writes:
[What the] documents do purport to show is that the CIA has a host of exploits to attack the operating systems of popular mobile devices like iPhones and Androids--a deeply worrying prospect, to be sure--but to "defeat" secure messaging apps, government hackers essentially have to gain access to your phone itself before they can read your messages.
So if you're using an app like Signal, the content of those communications are at least still likely protected from their vast surveillance nets that otherwise indiscriminately capture billions text messages and emails per day.
"With countless users switching over to end-to-end communications in recent years, it means intelligence agencies like the CIA must target individuals one by one, which, in turn, means the cost for each surveillance target goes up, and forces them to prioritize a much smaller number of people," he writes.
Moreover, these leaks may help fuel more public debate over the surveillance powers of our government, Timm adds, "whether the Trump administration likes it or not."
"But in the mean time," he writes, "download Signal."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.