Who's Behind the Massive Wikileaks Dump? The CIA Would Like to Know
The CIA would really like to know how its documents ended up on Wikileaks.
As reported, Wikileaks published a massive trove of information on Tuesday, and the CIA, along with the FBI, is now investigating whether a contractor or an employee leaked the documents, according to CNN.
The 8,761 documents, which so far appear to be legitimate, reveal an alarming array of CIA hacking techniques. The material alleges that the CIA can find its way around encrypted chat apps such as Signal and WhatsApp by compromising the phones on which those apps run, and that the CIA can hack smart TVs to spy on people. The agency is even trying to figure out how to hack cars—if, again, the documents are legitimate.
The material also portrays the CIA as in a bureaucratic rivalry with the NSA. Tired of relying on the NSA for some of its hacking-related intelligence, the CIA built its own hacker unit, which the documents allege has become massively powerful.
The CIA is trying to figure out whether Wikileaks has more information, and Wikileaks insists it does. In a press release announcing the document dump on Tuesday, Wikileaks said this was just part one of what would be the largest document dump on the CIA in the agency's history. Get ready.
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
