All you need to know about the WikiLeaks’ Vault 7

All you need to know about the WikiLeaks’ Vault 7

We know the role WikiLeaks played during Presidential elections but now its focus has shifted to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Wikileaks has released some 8,761 documents that are claimed to be of WikiLeaks. These documents, termed Vault 7, are about CIA’s hacking abilities. They have weird terms and codes for the hacking tools like Weeping Angel, Magical Mutt, Fine Dining and RoidRage. This has got America worried that their privacy is being compromised by CIA.

According to WikiLeaks, it is the largest intelligence publication in history. It amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code and gives its possessor all the information of the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive is said to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner and hence one of them provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.

Year Zero

The first set of documents is called year zero and contains all the confidential information related to CIA's global hacking program, its malware, and zero-day exploits for a number of devices including iOS and Android. The vulnerabilities of these devices are explained in separate documents that have people worrying about the security of their personal space.

The limelight is on CIA's Engineering Development Group (EDG) which is in charge of supervising of 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 worldwide is the main culprit of the entire series of hacks and illegal tracking done on citizens.

Glitches in iOS

These are plenty of issues pointed out in iOS and they have been given code names. It also contains the details of the exploit, the version they run on and the codes that they could access, the issues and who founded by. Apple went on to clarify in this regard that those are past issues that they have already resolved.

Glitches in Android

Android users are more annoyed because the details contain the name, descriptions, proof-of-concept name, what devices are affected, whether it was purchased from a partner, and the type of issue found. This has got everyone thinking whether the information they share over android devices are secure or scrutinized by intelligent agencies like CIA.

Web browsers

A vulnerability called ‘weeping angel’ has been disclosed. This is known to exploit web browsers including Chrome and Samsung Smart TV. It has a fake off mode where TV appears to be off but can record conversations at the same time. The Wi-Fi remains turned on during the mode and hence circulated recorded data. The malware targets Windows, OSx, and Linux routers using USB sticks, software on CDs, among many others.

What critics have to say?

1. CIA works with other security agencies around the world and helps develop these vulnerabilities that are used to access data from mobile phones, computers and televisions.

2. Vehicle system and the internet of things could also come under the direct target of CIA in the future if left unresolved.

3. CIA hackers have been involved in the penetration against most successful of anti-virus programs which are a threatening issue to most people who swear by anti-virus programs.

Are the documents real?

CIA has neither accepted nor denied the claims of WikiLeaks. This leaves everyone confused and thinking that the documents are real most probably and that’s why CIA has decided to stay tight lipped on the matter that has got the whole world concerned about the security of personal space over the internet.