On March 7, 2017 WikiLeaks released thousands of documents reportedly from the C.I.A.’s Center for Cyber Intelligence. The released documents revealed some shocking capabilities the CIA has in its arsenal, including the ability to listen to you anytime, anywhere. Here are six explosive reveals from the documents.
1. They Can Access Everything On Your Phone
“The CIA’s Mobile Devices Branch (MDB) developed numerous attacks to remotely hack and control popular smart phones. Infected phones can be instructed to send the CIA the user’s geolocation, audio and text communications as well as covertly activate the phone’s camera and microphone.
A specialized unit in the CIA’s Mobile Development Branch produces malware to infest, control and exfiltrate data from iPhones and other Apple products running iOS, such as iPads. Specific CIA malware revealed in “Year Zero” is able to penetrate, infest and control both the Android phone and iPhone software that runs or has run presidential Twitter accounts.”
They know where you go, when you leave, who you call, what you talk about, and they even know what you talk about when you’re not on your phone. They can even remotely turn on your phone and listen to your private conversations through the microphone.
2. They Can Access Everything On Your Computer
“The CIA also runs a very substantial effort to infect and control Microsoft Windows users with its malware. This includes multiple local and remote weaponized “zero days”, air gap jumping viruses such as “Hammer Drill” which infects software distributed on CD/DVDs, infectors for removable media such as USBs, systems to hide data in images or in covert disk areas ( “Brutal Kangaroo”) and to keep its malware infestations going.”
The C.I.A. can see everything you do on your computer, and everything you have ever done on your computer. They have the ability to break any form of encryption you use, and they have a backdoor into every computer operating system you can use.
3. They Can Listen To You Through Your TV
“After infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a ‘Fake-Off’ mode, so the owner falsely believes the TV is off when it is on.
In ‘Fake-Off’ mode the TV operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server.”
Do you have a Samsung TV? If so, the microphone inside of it can secretly record you even when the TV is off. The CIA worked in collaboration with MI5 to develop a way to remotely turn on your TV, without you noticing, and record any and all conversations you have.
If your television has voice recognition of any kind, it is highly likely intelligence agencies have a way to hack in and listen to you in the privacy of your home.
4. They Can Do It Right In Front of You
“The spy appears to be running a program showing videos (e.g VLC), presenting slides (Prezi), playing a computer game (Breakout2, 2048) or even running a fake virus scanner (Kaspersky, McAfee, Sophos). But while the decoy application is on the screen, the underlaying system is automatically infected and ransacked.”
If the CIA couldn’t get into your systems remotely, they could do it right in front of your eyes. All they have to do is send someone in acting as an I.T. Consultant or any employee with access to the computer systems, and then run what looks to be a real program while they download and steal any information they need.
Quick game of 2048 anyone?
5. Encryption Apps Won’t Save You
“Techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Wiebo, Confide and Cloackman by hacking the “smart” phones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before encryption is applied.”
Do you have an encrypted app that you thought would prevent you from worrying about these kinds of things? Well, that is useless. The CIA breaks into your phone’s hardware instead, directly accessing the information before it’s even transmitted into the app on your phone. Do you type the message? Do you speak into the microphone? That’s hardware, and the CIA can hack the hardware of any mobile device currently on the market.
6. They Can Crash Your Car
“As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks. The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.”
Did you realize that most cars since the 1970’s have computers in them? Nowadays, all cars rely on a system of computers to run your car, controlling acceleration, steering, and braking. If the CIA has a problem with you, all they have to do is hack into your car’s systems, make your brakes stop working, and accelerate the car until you crash. If they want to listen to you while you drive, they just hack into your Bluetooth radio systems.
Welcome to 1984 folks. Be sure to unplug your television, keep your phones in a soundproof box, and buy a car that was manufactured in the 1960’s if you want any semblance of privacy going forward.
