Analyzing Vault 7 “Year 1” Wikileaks Release

To preface a piece like this is a true challenge. What was in the Wikileaks release on March 7th is some heavy hitting stuff. I don’t fully trust Wikileaks, but recently things that have been released have had plenty of accurate information. I will respond to some of the statements in Vault 7:

Vault 7 “Year 1” Wikileaks Release

“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.”

If true, this is disastrous.

Do you have any idea what computer and hacking programs would sell for to foreign governments or hostile entities?

“Year Zero” introduces the scope and direction of the CIA's global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of “zero day” weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.”

Electronic devices being able to record for the government is some straight up 1984 (George Orwell) stuff. The potential that intelligence agencies are mass recording private conversations of US Citizens without a sufficient warrant directly violates the laws of search and seizure.

It’s not a matter of “having nothing to hide so I don’t care”.

When it comes to mining data it is supposed to be the other way around. Government needs a warrant to even search through or record individuals. The fact that all of our TVs could act as a secret microphone is not only a disgrace but dangerous and a threat to individual liberty.

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“In a statement to WikiLeaks the source details policy questions that they say urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the CIA's hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency. The source wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons.”

Government overreach once again. How many times will this ugly beast crop its head? This is the perfect time to segue into a quick lesson on individual liberty.

When our great founders formed this union, they realized that each citizen would have to give up some liberty in order for the government to secure our rights. We were only meant to give up just enough liberty to accomplish this task. If these reports prove to be true, the CIA is firmly outside of this dynamic and is taking steps to gorge itself with information retrieved via hacking, covert operations, etc. These recordings will have included information on US Citizens.

‘Once a single cyber ‘weapon' is ‘loose' it can spread around the world in seconds, to be used by rival states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike.

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks editor stated that “There is an extreme proliferation risk in the development of cyber ‘weapons'. Comparisons can be drawn between the uncontrolled proliferation of such ‘weapons', which results from the inability to contain them combined with their high market value, and the global arms trade. But the significance of “Year Zero” goes well beyond the choice between cyberwar and cyberpeace. The disclosure is also exceptional from a political, legal and forensic perspective.”

This point should not be lost. Unlike an explosive weapon that explodes on impact, hacking protocols and programs can be acquired via hacking actions. If a hacker is good enough, I would assume that they would be able to attain these programs without detection. It would be like copying or burning your favorite CD as a kid.

These individual if in possession of malicious intent, could sell the programs to hostile entities. Next thing you know, all governments possess the ability to data mine and collect mega loads of information on every person on the planet. Or worse, use programs to hack one another in a cyber war.

Go Read The Full Report:

If you wish the entire release is here: https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/index.html

Read for yourself the scary details held within about our government. Today, foreign governments already have begun taking actions to investigate the CIA.

Up Next: Obama: Disturbing History Of Executive Targeting

What do you think of the latest Wikileaks release? Let us know in the comment section.