The CIA can turn your router into a spy

Does your router have eyes?

You sure?

The CIA can rewrite a part of a router's software in order to let it track the internet activity of those who use it, according to information released Thursday by WikiLeaks.

If you're reading this at home, you're probably able to do so because of a router. If you're reading this at work or a coffee shop with Wi-Fi, same.

If the CIA installs it, an agent monitoring the traffic through that router will be able to pick up information such as a person's passwords. That agent can also direct the traffic of a person surfing the web via that router, sending that person to any number of sites at which they'll, say, be asked to download some type of malware.

Anyone using a router made by Belkin, Dell, DLink, Linksys, Motorola, and several other companies could potentially have a compromised router, and, if the CIA feels like it, WikiLeaks alleges that the agency can tamper with routers before they arrive in a customer's hands.

Though the CIA can mess with some routers without physically doing anything to them, WikiLeaks says that a favorite method is siphoning a targeted router off from the supply line, installing their own firmware, and monitoring from afar.

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WikiLeaks has been dumping information on CIA hacking techniques for weeks now, and though a good chunk of the information seems legitimate, there's reason to read information from WikiLeaks with some skepticism.

The organization, once known solely as a data-dumping watchdog, seemed at times to cheer for President Donald Trump during the 2016 election, although its relationship with the administration is complicated.