WikiLeaks Revealed How the CIA Spies on Phones and TVs (as Well as Their Fave Emoticons)

WikiLeaks’ latest release is one of its biggest ever, and it explains how the American government can watch people from their phone and TV.

According to a WikiLeaks data dump of apparent Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) materials, the American intelligence agency has developed technology to break into phones for surveillance purposes.

The files, collectively named ‘Vault 7’, also include exchanges of tools and information between the C.I.A and the intelligence services of allies like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and, yes, Australia.

What can they hack?

It appears from WikiLeaks’ latest upload, the C.I.A. has found ways to hack Apple, Google and Samsung devices, the New York Times reports.

They also reportedly stockpiled vulnerabilities in devices without reporting them to their developers, to seemingly allow for future surveillance.

Oh, and you know how you thought Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp (Canberra’s chatting platform of choice) were totally secure too? Not so much. Though the C.I.A. and allied intelligence services can’t bypass their encryption, they can compromise the Apple and Android devices using those apps. And in that way, they can spy on anything texted into, taped by or spoken near a phone, including WhatsApp and other encrypted platforms.

There is no evidence from the released material that the C.I.A. used its hacking tools against American citizens.

What are the some of the programs revealed in the data dump?

If the data dump is indeed accurate, one of the classified hacking programs is called “Weeping Angel”, and it explains how Samsung smart televisions can listen in to and record conversations, as well as “send [the audio files] over the internet to a covert C.I.A. server.”

(Samsung smart TVs note in their fine print that sets can capture “background conversations”, which might be passed on to third parties.)

Another program, code-named “Umbrage”, allows the C.I.A to mask the origin of some cyberattacks to confuse forensic investigators.

Did we also learn how the C.I.A. uses dank emoticons?

Correct. Great guess!

One user compiled a list, titled “Faces of the Internet”, compiling regularly used emoticons among C.I.A. staff.

They include such hits as:

(\/) (°,,°) (\/)

CIA note: "WOOPwoopwowopwoopwoopwoop [sic]!”

(`･ω･´)

CIA note: "Pedobear?”

ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

CIA note: "baby seal [Editor's note: this is actually pedobear]."

(ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

CIA note: "no thx [sic]"

Is this data for real?

Though the leaked materials (amounting to 7,818 web pages, 943 attachments and several hundred million lines of computer code, from 2013 to 2016) aren’t officially verified yet, cyber security consultants and contractors say the uploaded items appear legitimate.

WikiLeaks, not often inclined to self-edit, redacted names and other identifying names from the ‘Vault 7’ release, to protect C.I.A. staff. It also declined to release the computer code for usable “cyberweapons”.

Didn’t we already know some of this?

Yes, but not to this extent.

Last year, the U.S. government ended court proceedings against Apple when they figured out how to break into a locked iPhone belonging to San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook.

Previously, Apple CEO Tim Cook had denied their request to unlock the phone and install a backdoor into the device, noting that, “in the wrong hands, this software… would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”

Photo: iStock