WikiLeaks Julian Assange Press Conference On CIA Hacking (3/9/2017)

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WATCH: WikiLeaks Julian Assange Press Conference On CIA Hacking (3/9/2017)
by DONALD TRUMP SPEECHES & PRESS CONFERENCE , Published on Mar 9, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSq3DHh6-E
  "WatchLive: WikiLeaks Julian Assange News Conference on CIA leaks
   (3/9/2017) - WikiLeaks Press Conference on Vault 7 "

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Wikileaks Unveils 'Vault 7': "The Largest Ever Publication Of Confidential CIA Documents"; Another Snowden Emerges
by Tyler Durden  Mar 8, 2017 6:25 AM
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-07/wikileaks-hold-press-conference-vault-7-release-8am-eastern

  "WikiLeaks has published what it claims is the largest ever release of
   confidential documents on the CIA. It includes more than 8,000
   documents as part of 'Vault 7', a series of leaks on the agency, which
   have allegedly emerged from the CIA's Center For Cyber Intelligence in
   Langley, and which can be seen on the org chart below, which Wikileaks
   also released:
   
   
   
   A total of 8,761 documents have been published as part of 'Year Zero',
   the first in a series of leaks the whistleblower organization has
   dubbed 'Vault 7.' WikiLeaks said that 'Year Zero' revealed details of
   the CIA's "global covert hacking program," including "weaponized
   exploits" used against company products including "Apple's iPhone,
   Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows and even Samsung TVs, which
   are turned into covert microphones."
   
   WikiLeaks tweeted the leak, which it claims came from a network inside
   the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia.
   
   Among the more notable disclosures which, if confirmed, "would rock the
   technology world", the CIA had managed to bypass encryption on popular
   phone and messaging services such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram.
   According to the statement from WikiLeaks, government hackers can
   penetrate Android phones and collect "audio and message traffic before
   encryption is applied."
   
   Another profound revelation is that the CIA can engage in "false flag"
   cyberattacks which portray Russia as the assailant. Discussing the
   CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE group, Wikileaks' source notes
   that it "collects and maintains a substantial library of attack
   techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states including the
   Russian Federation.
   
     "With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its
      total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving
      behind the "fingerprints" of the groups that the attack techniques were
      stolen from. UMBRAGE components cover keyloggers, password collection,
      webcam capture, data destruction, persistence, privilege escalation,
      stealth, anti-virus (PSP) avoidance and survey techniques."
   
   As Kim Dotcom summarizes this finding, "CIA uses techniques to make
   cyber attacks look like they originated from enemy state. It turns
   DNC/Russia hack allegation by CIA into a JOKE"
   
   https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/839142656206745600
   
   But perhaps what is most notable is the purported emergence of another
   Snowden-type whistleblower: the source of the information told
   WikiLeaks in a statement that they wish to initiate a public debate
   about the "security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic
   control of cyberweapons."  Policy questions that should be debated in
   public include "whether the CIA's hacking capabilities exceed its
   mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency,"
   WikiLeaks claims the source said.
   
   The FAQ section of the release, shown below, provides further details
   on the extent of the leak, which was "obtained recently and covers
   through 2016". The time period covered in the latest leak is between
   the years 2013 and 2016, according to the CIA timestamps on the
   documents themselves. Secondly, WikiLeaks has asserted that it has not
   mined the entire leak and has only verified it, asking that journalists
   and activists do the leg work.
   
   Among the various techniques profiled by WikiLeaks is "Weeping Angel",
   developed by the CIA's Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests
   smart TVs, transforming them into covert microphones. After
   infestation, Weeping Angel places the target TV in a 'Fake-Off' mode,
   so that 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.
   
   As Kim Dotcom chimed in on Twitter, "CIA turns Smart TVs, iPhones,
   gaming consoles and many other consumer gadgets into open microphones"
   and added " CIA turned every Microsoft Windows PC in the world into
   spyware. Can activate backdoors on demand, including via Windows update"
   
   https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/839103335206563844
   
   Dotcom also added that "Obama accused Russia of cyberattacks while his
   CIA turned all internet enabled consumer electronics in Russia into
   listening devices. Wow!"
   
   https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/839104920812822528
   
   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."
   
   Key Highlights from the Vault 7 release so far:

   * "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.
   *  Wikileaks claims that 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.
   *  By the end of 2016, the CIA's hacking division, which formally falls
      under the agency's Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI), had over 5000
      registered users and had produced more than a thousand hacking systems,
      trojans, viruses, and other "weaponized" malware. Such is the scale of
      the CIA's undertaking that by 2016, its hackers had utilized more code
      than that used to run Facebook.
   *  The CIA had created, in effect, its "own NSA" with even less
      accountability and without publicly answering the question as to
      whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capacities of
      a rival agency could be justified.
   *  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.
   
   Snowden 2.0?

   *  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.
   
   CIA targets iPhones, Androids, smart TVs:

   *  CIA malware and hacking tools are built by EDG (Engineering Development
      Group), a software development group within CCI (Center for Cyber
      Intelligence), a department belonging to the CIA's DDI (Directorate for
      Digital Innovation). The DDI is one of the five major directorates of
      the CIA (see this organizational chart of the CIA for more details).
   *  The increasing sophistication of surveillance techniques has drawn
      comparisons with George Orwell's 1984, but "Weeping Angel", developed
      by the CIA's Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs,
      transforming them into covert microphones, is surely its most
      emblematic realization.
   
   Also cars, suggesting that the CIA may have a role in the death of
   Michael Hastings:

   *  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.
   
   And computers:

   *  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.
   
   Hoarding of Zero Day exploits:

   *  In the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA, the U.S.
      technology industry secured a commitment from the Obama administration
      that the executive would disclose on an ongoing basis — rather than
      hoard — serious vulnerabilities, exploits, bugs or "zero days" to
      Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other US-based manufacturers.
   *  Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge
      swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to
      foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or
      hear rumors of the vulnerability. If the CIA can discover such
      vulnerabilities so can others.
   
   Proliferation of leaked/hacked Cyberwar programs:

   *  While nuclear proliferation has been restrained by the enormous costs
      and visible infrastructure involved in assembling enough fissile
      material to produce a critical nuclear mass, cyber 'weapons', once
      developed, are very hard to retain. Cyber 'weapons' are in fact just
      computer programs which can be pirated like any other. Since they are
      entirely comprised of information they can be copied quickly with no
      marginal cost.
   *  Over the last three years the United States intelligence sector, which
      consists of government agencies such as the CIA and NSA and their
      contractors, such as Booze Allan Hamilton, has been subject to
      unprecedented series of data exfiltrations by its own workers.
   *  Once a single cyber 'weapon' is 'loose' it can spread around the world
      in seconds, to be used by peer states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers
      alike.
   
   The U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a covert CIA hacker base

   *  In addition to its operations in Langley, Virginia the CIA also uses
      the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt as a covert base for its hackers
      covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. CIA hackers operating out
      of the Frankfurt consulate ( "Center for Cyber Intelligence Europe" or
      CCIE) are given diplomatic ("black") passports and State Department
      cover.
   *  The instructions for incoming CIA hackers make Germany's
      counter-intelligence efforts appear inconsequential: "Breeze through
      German Customs because you have your cover-for-action story down pat,
      and all they did was stamp your passport"
   
   Examples of CIA projects

   *  The CIA's Engineering Development Group (EDG) management system
      contains around 500 different projects (only some of which are
      documented by "Year Zero") each with their own sub-projects, malware
      and hacker tools. The majority of these projects relate to tools that
      are used for penetration, infestation ("implanting"), control, and
      exfiltration.
   *  Umbrage: The CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE group collects and
      maintains a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from
      malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation. With
      UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total
      number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind
      the "fingerprints" of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen
      from.
   *  Fine Dining:  Fine Dining comes with a standardized questionnaire i.e
      menu that CIA case officers fill out. The questionnaire is used by the
      agency's OSB (Operational Support Branch) to transform the requests of
      case officers into technical requirements for hacking attacks
      (typically "exfiltrating" information from computer systems) for
      specific operations.  Among the list of possible targets of the
      collection are 'Asset', 'Liason Asset', 'System Administrator',
      'Foreign Information Operations', 'Foreign Intelligence Agencies' and
      'Foreign Government Entities'. Notably absent is any reference to
      extremists or transnational criminals.
   *  'Improvise'; a toolset for configuration, post-processing, payload
      setup and execution vector selection for survey/exfiltration tools
      supporting all major operating systems like Windows (Bartender), MacOS
      (JukeBox) and Linux (DanceFloor).
   *  HIVE: HIVE is a multi-platform CIA malware suite and its associated
      control software. The project provides customizable implants for
      Windows, Solaris, MikroTik (used in internet routers) and Linux
      platforms and a Listening Post (LP)/Command and Control (C2)
      infrastructure to communicate with these implants. The implants are
      configured to communicate via HTTPS with the webserver of a cover
      domain; each operation utilizing these implants has a separate cover
      domain and the infrastructure can handle any number of cover domains.
   
   And some key sections from the FAQ:

   *  What time period is covered? The years 2013 to 2016. The sort order of
      the pages within each level is determined by date (oldest first).
      WikiLeaks has obtained the CIA's creation/last modification date for
      each page but these do not yet appear for technical reasons. Usually
      the date can be discerned or approximated from the content and the page
      order. If it is critical to know the exact time/date contact WikiLeaks.
   *  What is "Vault 7" "Vault 7" is a substantial collection of material
      about CIA activities obtained by WikiLeaks.
   *  What is the total size of "Vault 7"? The series is the largest
      intelligence publication in history.
   *  When was each part of "Vault 7" obtained?: Part one was obtained
      recently and covers through 2016. Details on the other parts will be
      available at the time of publication.
   *  Is each part of "Vault 7" from a different source? Details on the other
      parts will be available at the time of publication.
   *  How did WikiLeaks obtain each part of "Vault 7"? Sources trust
      WikiLeaks to not reveal information that might help identify them.
   *  Isn't WikiLeaks worried that the CIA will act against its staff to stop
      the series? No. That would be certainly counter-productive.
   
   * * *
   
   PREVIOUSLY
   
   As a reminder, last night Wikileaks announced that it has released an
   encrypted torrent file which reportedly contains information on the
   mysterious "Vault 7", and which we now know is the biggest "collection
   of material about CIA activities obtained by WikiLeaks.publication in
   history." It can be downloaded now at the following URL, and accessed
   using the password  "SplinterItIntoAThousandPiecesAndScatterItIntoTheWinds"
   
   Wikileaks had previously announced that it would hold an 8am Eastern
   press conference, as part of the unveiling.
   
   https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/839028999162642432
   
   However, there appeared to have been some complications, with Wikileaks
   tweeting that "the press conference is under attack: Facebook+Periscope
   video used by WikiLeaks' editor Julian Assange have been attacked.
   Activating contingency plans"
   
   https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/839099265314131968
   
   Wikileaks then announced that "As Mr. Assange's Perscipe+Facebook video
   stream links are under attack his video press conference will be
   rescheduled."
   
   https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/839104886625157120
   
   In a separate tweet, Wikileaks has just released the passphrase to
   decrypt the torrent file: RELEASE: CIA Vault 7 Year Zero decryption
   passphrase:
   
   SplinterItIntoAThousandPiecesAndScatterItIntoTheWinds
   
   https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/839100031256920064
   
   As a result, since Assange appears to have been unable to launch his
   previously scheduled press conference, he has gone ahead and issued the
   press release on Vault 7 Part 1 "Year Zero, which is titled: Inside the
   CIA's global hacking force:
   
   Press Release
   
   Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed
   
   Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks
   on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named "Vault 7" by
   WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents
   on the agency.
   
   The first full part of the series, "Year Zero", comprises 8,761
   documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated
   inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virgina. It
   follows an introductory disclosure last month of  CIA targeting French
   political parties and candidates in the lead up to the 2012
   presidential election.
   
   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.
   
   "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.
   
   Since 2001 the CIA has gained political and budgetary preeminence over
   the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The CIA found itself building
   not just its now infamous drone fleet, but a very different type of
   covert, globe-spanning force — its own substantial fleet of hackers.
   The agency's hacking division freed it from having to disclose its
   often controversial operations to the NSA (its primary bureaucratic
   rival) in order to draw on the NSA's hacking capacities.
   
   By the end of 2016, the CIA's hacking division, which formally falls
   under the agency's Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI), had over 5000
   registered users and had produced more than a thousand hacking systems,
   trojans, viruses, and other "weaponized" malware. Such is the scale of
   the CIA's undertaking that by 2016, its hackers had utilized more code
   than that used to run Facebook. The CIA had created, in effect, its
   "own NSA" with even less accountability and without publicly answering
   the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on
   duplicating the capacities of a rival agency could be justified.
   
   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.
   
   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."
   
   Wikileaks has carefully reviewed the "Year Zero" disclosure and
   published substantive CIA documentation while avoiding the distribution
   of 'armed' cyberweapons until a consensus emerges on the technical and
   political nature of the CIA's program and how such 'weapons' should
   analyzed, disarmed and published.
   
   Wikileaks has also decided to redact and anonymise some identifying
   information in "Year Zero" for in depth analysis. These redactions
   include ten of thousands of CIA targets and attack machines throughout
   Latin America, Europe and the United States. While we are aware of the
   imperfect results of any approach chosen, we remain committed to our
   publishing model and note that the quantity of published pages in
   "Vault 7" part one ("Year Zero") already eclipses the total number of
   pages published over the first three years of the Edward Snowden NSA
   leaks.
   
   * * *
   
   Analysis
   
   CIA malware targets iPhone, Android, smart TVs
   
   CIA malware and hacking tools are built by EDG (Engineering Development
   Group), a software development group within CCI (Center for Cyber
   Intelligence), a department belonging to the CIA's DDI (Directorate for
   Digital Innovation). The DDI is one of the five major directorates of
   the CIA (see this  organizational chart of the CIA for more details).
   
   The EDG is responsible for the development, testing and operational
   support of all backdoors, exploits, malicious payloads, trojans,
   viruses and any other kind of malware used by the CIA in its covert
   operations world-wide.
   
   The increasing sophistication of surveillance techniques has drawn
   comparisons with George Orwell's 1984, but "Weeping Angel", developed
   by the CIA's Embedded Devices Branch (EDB), which infests smart TVs,
   transforming them into covert microphones, is surely its most
   emblematic realization.
   
   The attack against Samsung smart TVs was developed in cooperation with
   the United Kingdom's MI5/BTSS. After infestation, Weeping Angel places
   the target TV in a 'Fake-Off' mode, so that 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.
   
   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.
   
   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.
   
   Despite iPhone's minority share (14.5%) of the global smart phone
   market in 2016, 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. CIA's
   arsenal includes numerous local and remote "zero days" developed by CIA
   or obtained from GCHQ, NSA, FBI or purchased from cyber arms
   contractors such as Baitshop. The disproportionate focus on iOS may be
   explained by the popularity of the iPhone among social, political,
   diplomatic and business elites.
   
   A similar unit targets Google's Android which is used to run the
   majority of the world's smart phones (~85%) including Samsung, HTC and
   Sony. 1.15 billion Android powered phones were sold last year. "Year
   Zero" shows that as of 2016 the CIA had 24 "weaponized" Android "zero
   days" which it has developed itself and obtained from GCHQ, NSA and
   cyber arms contractors.
   
   These 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.
   
   
   CIA malware targets Windows, OSx, Linux, routers
   
   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.
   
   Many of these infection efforts are pulled together by the CIA's
   Automated Implant Branch (AIB), which has developed several attack
   systems for automated infestation and control of CIA malware, such as
   "Assassin" and "Medusa".
   
   Attacks against Internet infrastructure and webservers are developed by
   the CIA's Network Devices Branch (NDB).
   
   The CIA has developed automated multi-platform malware attack and
   control systems covering Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris, Linux and more,
   such as EDB's "HIVE" and the related "Cutthroat" and "Swindle" tools,
   which are described in the examples section below.
   
   
   CIA 'hoarded' vulnerabilities ("zero days")
   
   In the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA, the U.S.
   technology industry secured a commitment from the Obama administration
   that the executive would disclose on an ongoing basis — rather than
   hoard — serious vulnerabilities, exploits, bugs or "zero days" to
   Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other US-based manufacturers.
   
   Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge
   swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to
   foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or
   hear rumors of the vulnerability. If the CIA can discover such
   vulnerabilities so can others.
   
   The U.S. government's commitment to the  Vulnerabilities Equities
   Process came after significant lobbying by US technology companies, who
   risk losing their share of the global market over real and perceived
   hidden vulnerabilities. The government stated that it would disclose
   all pervasive vulnerabilities discovered after 2010 on an ongoing basis.
   
   "Year Zero" documents show that the CIA breached the Obama
   administration's commitments. Many of the vulnerabilities used in the
   CIA's cyber arsenal are pervasive and some may already have been found
   by rival intelligence agencies or cyber criminals.
   
   As an example, 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. The CIA
   attacks this software by using undisclosed security vulnerabilities
   ("zero days") possessed by the CIA but if the CIA can hack these phones
   then so can everyone else who has obtained or discovered the
   vulnerability. As long as the CIA keeps these vulnerabilities concealed
   from Apple and Google (who make the phones) they will not be fixed, and
   the phones will remain hackable.
   
   The same vulnerabilities exist for the population at large, including
   the U.S. Cabinet, Congress, top CEOs, system administrators, security
   officers and engineers. By hiding these security flaws from
   manufacturers like Apple and Google the CIA ensures that it can hack
   everyone &mdsh; at the expense of leaving everyone hackable.
   
   
   'Cyberwar' programs are a serious proliferation risk
   Cyber 'weapons' are not possible to keep under effective control.
   
   While nuclear proliferation has been restrained by the enormous costs
   and visible infrastructure involved in assembling enough fissile
   material to produce a critical nuclear mass, cyber 'weapons', once
   developed, are very hard to retain.
   
   Cyber 'weapons' are in fact just computer programs which can be pirated
   like any other. Since they are entirely comprised of information they
   can be copied quickly with no marginal cost.
   
   Securing such 'weapons' is particularly difficult since the same people
   who develop and use them have the skills to exfiltrate copies without
   leaving traces — sometimes by using the very same 'weapons' against the
   organizations that contain them. There are substantial price incentives
   for government hackers and consultants to obtain copies since there is
   a global "vulnerability market" that will pay hundreds of thousands to
   millions of dollars for copies of such 'weapons'. Similarly,
   contractors and companies who obtain such 'weapons' sometimes use them
   for their own purposes, obtaining advantage over their competitors in
   selling 'hacking' services.
   
   Over the last three years the United States intelligence sector, which
   consists of government agencies such as the CIA and NSA and their
   contractors, such as Booze Allan Hamilton, has been subject to
   unprecedented series of data exfiltrations by its own workers.
   
   A number of intelligence community members not yet publicly named have
   been arrested or subject to federal criminal investigations in separate
   incidents.
   
   Most visibly, on February 8, 2017 a U.S. federal grand jury indicted
   Harold T. Martin III with 20 counts of mishandling classified
   information. The Department of Justice alleged that it seized some
   50,000 gigabytes of information from Harold T. Martin III that he had
   obtained from classified programs at NSA and CIA, including the source
   code for numerous hacking tools.
   
   Once a single cyber 'weapon' is 'loose' it can spread around the world
   in seconds, to be used by peer states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers
   alike.
   
   
   U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt is a covert CIA hacker base
   
   In addition to its operations in Langley, Virginia the CIA also uses
   the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt as a covert base for its hackers
   covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
   
   CIA hackers operating out of the Frankfurt consulate ( "Center for
   Cyber Intelligence Europe" or CCIE) are given diplomatic ("black")
   passports and State Department cover.  The instructions for incoming
   CIA hackers make Germany's counter-intelligence efforts appear
   inconsequential: "Breeze through German Customs because you have your
   cover-for-action story down pat, and all they did was stamp your
   passport"
   
   
      Your Cover Story (for this trip)
      Q: Why are you here?
      A: Supporting technical consultations at the Consulate.
   
   Two earlier WikiLeaks publications give further detail on CIA
   approaches to customs and secondary screening procedures.
   
   Once in Frankfurt CIA hackers can travel without further border checks
   to the 25 European countries that are part of the Shengen open border
   area — including France, Italy and Switzerland.
   
   A number of the CIA's electronic attack methods are designed for
   physical proximity. These attack methods are able to penetrate high
   security networks that are disconnected from the internet, such as
   police record database. In these cases, a CIA officer, agent or allied
   intelligence officer acting under instructions, physically infiltrates
   the targeted workplace. The attacker is provided with a USB containing
   malware developed for the CIA for this purpose, which is inserted into
   the targeted computer. The attacker then infects and exfiltrates data
   to removable media. For example, the CIA attack system Fine Dining,
   provides 24 decoy applications for CIA spies to use. To witnesses, 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.
   
   
   How the CIA dramatically increased proliferation risks
   
   In what is surely one of the most astounding intelligence own goals in
   living memory, the CIA structured its classification regime such that
   for the most market valuable part of "Vault 7" — the CIA's weaponized
   malware (implants + zero days), Listening Posts (LP), and Command and
   Control (C2) systems — the agency has little legal recourse.
   
   The CIA made these systems unclassified.
   
   Why the CIA chose to make its cyberarsenal unclassified reveals how
   concepts developed for military use do not easily crossover to the
   'battlefield' of cyber 'war'.
   
   To attack its targets, the CIA usually requires that its implants
   communicate with their control programs over the internet. If CIA
   implants, Command & Control and Listening Post software were
   classified, then CIA officers could be prosecuted or dismissed for
   violating rules that prohibit placing classified information onto the
   Internet. Consequently the CIA has secretly made most of its cyber
   spying/war code unclassified. The U.S. government is not able to assert
   copyright either, due to restrictions in the U.S. Constitution. This
   means that cyber 'arms' manufactures and computer hackers can freely
   "pirate" these 'weapons' if they are obtained. The CIA has primarily
   had to rely on obfuscation to protect its malware secrets.
   
   Conventional weapons such as missiles may be fired at the enemy (i.e
   into an unsecured area). Proximity to or impact with the target
   detonates the ordnance including its classified parts. Hence military
   personnel do not violate classification rules by firing ordnance with
   classified parts. Ordnance will likely explode. If it does not, that is
   not the operator's intent.
   
   Over the last decade U.S. hacking operations have been increasingly
   dressed up in military jargon to tap into Department of Defense funding
   streams. For instance, attempted "malware injections" (commercial
   jargon) or "implant drops" (NSA jargon) are being called "fires" as if
   a weapon was being fired. However the analogy is questionable.
   
   Unlike bullets, bombs or missiles, most CIA malware is designed to live
   for days or even years after it has reached its 'target'. CIA malware
   does not "explode on impact" but rather permanently infests its target.
   In order to infect target's device, copies of the malware must be
   placed on the target's devices, giving physical possession of the
   malware to the target. To exfiltrate data back to the CIA or to await
   further instructions the malware must communicate with CIA Command &
   Control (C2) systems placed on internet connected servers. But such
   servers are typically not approved to hold classified information, so
   CIA command and control systems are also made unclassified.
   
   A successful 'attack' on a target's computer system is more like a
   series of complex stock maneuvers in a hostile take-over bid or the
   careful planting of rumors in order to gain control over an
   organization's leadership rather than the firing of a weapons system.
   If there is a military analogy to be made, the infestation of a target
   is perhaps akin to the execution of a whole series of military
   maneuvers against the target's territory including observation,
   infiltration, occupation and exploitation.
   
   
   Evading forensics and anti-virus
   
   A series of standards lay out CIA malware infestation patterns which
   are likely to assist forensic crime scene investigators as well as
   Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, Siemens and
   anti-virus companies attribute and defend against attacks.
   
   "Tradecraft DO's and DON'Ts" contains CIA rules on how its malware
   should be written to avoid fingerprints implicating the "CIA, US
   government, or its witting partner companies" in "forensic review".
   Similar secret standards cover the  use of encryption to hide CIA
   hacker and malware communication (pdf), describing targets &
   exfiltrated data (pdf) as well as  executing payloads (pdf) and 
   persisting (pdf) in the target's machines over time.
   
   CIA hackers developed successful attacks against most well known
   anti-virus programs. These are documented in AV defeats, Personal
   Security Products, Detecting and defeating PSPs and PSP/Debugger/RE
   Avoidance. For example, Comodo was defeated by CIA malware placing
   itself in the Window's "Recycle Bin". While Comodo 6.x has a "Gaping
   Hole of DOOM".
   
   CIA hackers discussed what the NSA's "Equation Group" hackers did wrong
   and how the CIA's malware makers could avoid similar exposure.
   
   Examples
   
   The CIA's Engineering Development Group (EDG) management system
   contains around 500 different projects (only some of which are
   documented by "Year Zero") each with their own sub-projects, malware
   and hacker tools.
   
   The majority of these projects relate to tools that are used for
   penetration, infestation ("implanting"), control, and exfiltration.
   
   Another branch of development focuses on the development and operation
   of Listening Posts (LP) and Command and Control (C2) systems used to
   communicate with and control CIA implants; special projects are used to
   target specific hardware from routers to smart TVs.
   
   Some example projects are described below, but see  the table of
   contents for the full list of projects described by WikiLeaks' "Year
   Zero".
   
   
   UMBRAGE
   
   The CIA's hand crafted hacking techniques pose a problem for the
   agency. Each technique it has created forms a "fingerprint" that can be
   used by forensic investigators to attribute multiple different attacks
   to the same entity.
   
   This is analogous to finding the same distinctive knife wound on
   multiple separate murder victims. The unique wounding style creates
   suspicion that a single murderer is responsible. As soon one murder in
   the set is solved then the other murders also find likely attribution.
   
   The CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE group collects and maintains
   a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware
   produced in other states including the Russian Federation.
   
   With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its
   total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving
   behind the "fingerprints" of the groups that the attack techniques were
   stolen from.
   
   UMBRAGE components cover keyloggers, password collection, webcam
   capture, data destruction, persistence, privilege escalation, stealth,
   anti-virus (PSP) avoidance and survey techniques.
   
   
   Fine Dining
   
   Fine Dining comes with a standardized questionnaire i.e menu that CIA
   case officers fill out. The questionnaire is used by the agency's OSB
   (Operational Support Branch) to transform the requests of case officers
   into technical requirements for hacking attacks (typically
   "exfiltrating" information from computer systems) for specific
   operations. The questionnaire allows the OSB to identify how to adapt
   existing tools for the operation, and communicate this to CIA malware
   configuration staff. The OSB functions as the interface between CIA
   operational staff and the relevant technical support staff.
   
   Among the list of possible targets of the collection are 'Asset',
   'Liason Asset', 'System Administrator', 'Foreign Information
   Operations', 'Foreign Intelligence Agencies' and 'Foreign Government
   Entities'. Notably absent is any reference to extremists or
   transnational criminals. The 'Case Officer' is also asked to specify
   the environment of the target like the type of computer, operating
   system used, Internet connectivity and installed anti-virus utilities
   (PSPs) as well as a list of file types to be exfiltrated like Office
   documents, audio, video, images or custom file types. The 'menu' also
   asks for information if recurring access to the target is possible and
   how long unobserved access to the computer can be maintained. This
   information is used by the CIA's 'JQJIMPROVISE' software (see below) to
   configure a set of CIA malware suited to the specific needs of an
   operation.
   
   
   Improvise (JQJIMPROVISE)
   
   'Improvise' is a toolset for configuration, post-processing, payload
   setup and execution vector selection for survey/exfiltration tools
   supporting all major operating systems like Windows (Bartender), MacOS
   (JukeBox) and Linux (DanceFloor). Its configuration utilities like
   Margarita allows the NOC (Network Operation Center) to customize tools
   based on requirements from 'Fine Dining' questionairies.
   
   HIVE
   
   HIVE is a multi-platform CIA malware suite and its associated control
   software. The project provides customizable implants for Windows,
   Solaris, MikroTik (used in internet routers) and Linux platforms and a
   Listening Post (LP)/Command and Control (C2) infrastructure to
   communicate with these implants.
   
   The implants are configured to communicate via HTTPS with the webserver
   of a cover domain; each operation utilizing these implants has a
   separate cover domain and the infrastructure can handle any number of
   cover domains.
   
   Each cover domain resolves to an IP address that is located at a
   commercial VPS (Virtual Private Server) provider. The public-facing
   server forwards all incoming traffic via a VPN to a 'Blot' server that
   handles actual connection requests from clients. It is setup for
   optional SSL client authentication: if a client sends a valid client
   certificate (only implants can do that), the connection is forwarded to
   the 'Honeycomb' toolserver that communicates with the implant; if a
   valid certificate is missing (which is the case if someone tries to
   open the cover domain website by accident), the traffic is forwarded to
   a cover server that delivers an unsuspicious looking website.
   
   The Honeycomb toolserver receives exfiltrated information from the
   implant; an operator can also task the implant to execute jobs on the
   target computer, so the toolserver acts as a C2 (command and control)
   server for the implant.
   
   Similar functionality (though limited to Windows) is provided by the
   RickBobby project.
   
   See the classified user and developer guides for HIVE.
   
   
   * * *

   FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
   Why now?
   
   WikiLeaks published as soon as its verification and analysis were ready.
   
   In Febuary the Trump administration has issued an Executive Order
   calling for a "Cyberwar" review to be prepared within 30 days.
   
   While the review increases the timeliness and relevance of the
   publication it did not play a role in setting the publication date.

   Redactions
   
   Names, email addresses and external IP addresses have been redacted in
   the released pages (70,875 redactions in total) until further analysis
   is complete.
    1. Over-redaction: Some items may have been redacted that are not
       employees, contractors, targets or otherwise related to the agency, but
       are, for example, authors of documentation for otherwise public
       projects that are used by the agency.
    2. Identity vs. person: the redacted names are replaced by user IDs
       (numbers) to allow readers to assign multiple pages to a single author.
       Given the redaction process used a single person may be represented by
       more than one assigned identifier but no identifier refers to more than
       one real person.
    3. Archive attachments (zip, tar.gz, ...) are replaced with a PDF listing
       all the file names in the archive. As the archive content is assessed
       it may be made available; until then the archive is redacted.
    4. Attachments with other binary content are replaced by a hex dump of the
       content to prevent accidental invocation of binaries that may have been
       infected with weaponized CIA malware. As the content is assessed it may
       be made available; until then the content is redacted.
    5. The tens of thousands of routable IP addresses references (including
       more than 22 thousand within the United States) that correspond to
       possible targets, CIA covert listening post servers, intermediary and
       test systems, are redacted for further exclusive investigation.
    6. Binary files of non-public origin are only available as dumps to
       prevent accidental invocation of CIA malware infected binaries.

   Organizational Chart
   
   The organizational chart corresponds to the material published by
   WikiLeaks so far.
   
   Since the organizational structure of the CIA below the level of
   Directorates is not public, the placement of the EDG and its branches
   within the org chart of the agency is reconstructed from information
   contained in the documents released so far. It is intended to be used
   as a rough outline of the internal organization; please be aware that
   the reconstructed org chart is incomplete and that internal
   reorganizations occur frequently.

   Wiki pages
   
   "Year Zero" contains 7818 web pages with 943 attachments from the
   internal development groupware. The software used for this purpose is
   called Confluence, a proprietary software from Atlassian. Webpages in
   this system (like in Wikipedia) have a version history that can provide
   interesting insights on how a document evolved over time; the 7818
   documents include these page histories for 1136 latest versions.
   
   The order of named pages within each level is determined by date
   (oldest first). Page content is not present if it was originally
   dynamically created by the Confluence software (as indicated on the
   re-constructed page).

   What time period is covered?
   
   The years 2013 to 2016. The sort order of the pages within each level
   is determined by date (oldest first).
   
   WikiLeaks has obtained the CIA's creation/last modification date for
   each page but these do not yet appear for technical reasons. Usually
   the date can be discerned or approximated from the content and the page
   order. If it is critical to know the exact time/date contact WikiLeaks.

   What is "Vault 7"   
   "Vault 7" is a substantial collection of material about CIA activities
   obtained by WikiLeaks.

   When was each part of "Vault 7" obtained?   
   Part one was obtained recently and covers through 2016. Details on the
   other parts will be available at the time of publication.

   Is each part of "Vault 7" from a different source?   
   Details on the other parts will be available at the time of publication.

   What is the total size of "Vault 7"?   
   The series is the largest intelligence publication in history.

   How did WikiLeaks obtain each part of "Vault 7"?   
   Sources trust WikiLeaks to not reveal information that might help
   identify them.

   Isn't WikiLeaks worried that the CIA will act against its staff to stop
   the series?   
   No. That would be certainly counter-productive.

   Has WikiLeaks already 'mined' all the best stories?   
   No. WikiLeaks has intentionally not written up hundreds of impactful
   stories to encourage others to find them and so create expertise in the
   area for subsequent parts in the series. They're there. Look. Those who
   demonstrate journalistic excellence may be considered for early access
   to future parts.

   Won't other journalists find all the best stories before me?   
   Unlikely. There are very considerably more stories than there are
   journalists or academics who are in a position to write them. "

[rmstock]

Vault 7 CIA leaks: Frankfurt hacking base, 'Pocket Putin', spying TVs and more from WikiLeaks
by RT , Published on Mar 8, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQsLB7iyUMI
  "WikiLeaks has published what it claims is the largest ever batch of
   confidential documents on the CIA, revealing the extent of agency's
   hacking capabilities.
   READ MORE:
   WikiLeaks says just 1% of #Vault7 covert documents released so far
   https://on.rt.com/853k
   'Pocket Putin' – CIA's covert listening tool revealed
   https://on.rt.com/853s
   CIA, MI5 turned Samsung TVs into spying devices, even when switched off
   https://on.rt.com/8533
   Germany to examine WikiLeaks documents alleging CIA hacking base in
   Frankfurt, could launch probe https://on.rt.com/854p "

THE TOP 5 Under Reported Scariest Facts About The Vault 7 WikiLeaks Release
by WeAreChange , Published on Mar 8, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlC-NQ3JunM
"In this video, we go over the latest news collected from the WikiLeaks
   Vault 7 release about the CIA. We go over scariest revelations from
   this release giving you some context on Donald Trump, The Russia
   Hysteria and the vast amount of accountable power the CIA actually has.
   Confronting CIA/NSA dude Hayden
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQTW-...
   Warning You Nothing Is Safe
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiNb... "

Former CIA boss blames millennials for leaks — Wikileaks Vault 7
by orlared , Published on Mar 7, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxU8jierhJg
  "Tweeted by wikileaks: https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/...
   Wikileaks Vault 7: Former CIA Director Michael Hayden blames
   millennials for highly sensitive CIA data leaks:
   "This group of millennials and related groups simply have different
   understandings of the words loyalty, secrecy, and transparency than
   certainly my generation did."
   Former CIA boss Michael Hayden has said the supposed leak of highly
   sensitive CIA data by Wikileaks is "incredibly damaging" and has put
   lives at risk.
   http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-cana... "