WikiLeaks reveals someone at the CIA really, really likes 'Doctor Who'
With the latest dump of WikiLeaks data called "Dark Matter" we get to see how (allegedly) deep the CIA's affection for British TV goes.
The documents, released Thursday, contain more details from the "Vault 7" leak.
One of the tools detailed in the leak is named "Sonic Screwdriver," which is a reference to the Doctor's trusty tool on the long-running BBC series Doctor Who. The sonic screwdriver is basically a sci-fi version of a magic wand that can do everything from picking locks to hacking into computers.
Subtle.
The CIA's Sonic Screwdriver is described in the WikiLeaks documents as a way to implant code through an adapter while a Mac is booting up. Then, other tools can be installed onto the computer even if it has a firmware password.
Another hack from Thursday's dump was called "NightSkies," which might be referring to the never-made 1970s sci-fi film Night Skies. The Steven Spielberg movie was supposed to be a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but instead the material was used in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Poltergeist. It's also the name of a little-known 2007 film about a UFO sighting in the U.S., so maybe the CIA is really into obscure sci-fi horror films.
The NightSkies hack is from 2008 and was an implant tool for the iPhone 3G, according to the leaked documents. Some of the features of the hack include accessing the address book, texts and call logs on phones.
WikiLleaks' earlier data dump claimed to show the CIA could hack into smart TVs, cars and chat apps.
Those documents also referenced Doctor Who with the "Weeping Angel" hack, as well as Talladega Nights with a "RickyBobby" implant, and a Fight Club trojan.
The CIA is certainly all caught up on all TV and movies.
Topics Apple Doctor Who
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
