14 DAY TRIAL // The CIA has developed numerous cracking tools over the years, including for smartphones and smart TVs, transforming them into spying gear you didn't know you owned.
One of these surveillance techniques is "Weeping Angel," which was created to infest smart TVs in order to transform them into covert microphones, Wikileaks reveals after opening Vault 7.
The CIA didn't build this one on its own, but had help from the British MI5 and BTSS. This collaboration led to an attack on Samsung smart TVs, which put the target in a "Face-Off" mode. Basically, the owner believed the TV was off when it was actually on, recording conversations in the room and sending them to a covert CIA server.
But the attack on smart TVs isn't the only thing the CIA could do. In fact, starting back in October 2014, the CIA started looking at ways to infect the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks without having a specific purpose for this sought control. WikiLeaks claims that such control would permit the CIA to engage in undetectable assassinations.
Working on Android and iPhones
The CIA has divisions working specifically on creating malware and other viruses for these devices. The Engineering Development Group, for instance, is a software development group within the Center for Cyber Intelligence, a department within the Directorate for Digital Innovation within the CIA. The EDG is responsible for developing, testing, creating exploits, malware, trojans, viruses, and so on.
When it comes to mobile devices, the CIA has created the Mobile Devices Branch which is specialized in hacking and controlling popular smartphones, turning them into spying gear. There are teams working separately to handle iOS and Android malware.
The first of many
The revelations into what the CIA can do are just beginning. While it's really not that big of a surprise that the CIA has these powers, it does take one aback to see them all together in the same place.
By creating departments to handle hacking techniques for specific operating systems, the CIA makes sure they're up to date with everything that's going on. It wouldn't be a surprise if one or more of their tools leaked into the wild and were taken over by criminal organizations.
After all, spyware isn't a new type of malware by any means, but regular hackers don't have that much use of it beyond grabbing passwords and other private info that might be used to further hack a certain individual.
We'll update the topic when there is more information about specific tools used against users.