14 DAY TRIAL // Wikileaks is nowhere near done exposing the Vault 7 files allegedly belonging to the CIA, this time around publishing a user guide for Weeping Angel, a tool that allows the secretive agency to get control over Smart TVs.
Weeping Angels is a tool that was mentioned in the first round of files exposed by Wikileaks back in March. Now, the whistleblower site is expanding on that information, bringing more details to the table.
First off, Weeping Angel is a tool that's derived from another tool created by the British intelligence agency MI5/BTSS, called "Extending."
Extending is a way for the spies to take control of the Samsung F Series Smart TV. The user guide explains that this is an implant that was designed to record audio from the built-in microphone and egress or store the data.
The malware can be deployed to the TV via USB stick, while the data can be gathered the same way, or via a WiFi hotspot set up near the TV. The guideline presents a step-by-step on how to install the malware and even advises spies to clear the history of installed applications if the target TV's remote has a History button.
Of course, that's not all. In fact, real-time audio spying is also possible with the help of a Live Listen Tool, which runs on a device with Windows 7 or 8 installed.
Joint effort
The Wikileaks notes that the CIA and the MI5/BTSS worked together on Weeping Angel during a Joint Development Workshop, which is something along the lines of a boot camp.
"The classification marks of the User Guide document hint that is was originally written by the MI5/BTSS and later shared with the CIA. Both agencies collaborated on the further development of the malware and coordinated their work in Joint Development Workshops," Wikileaks adds.
As it was previously reported when it comes to CIA's abilities to hack Samsung TVs, physical contact with the device is required for the malware to be deployed. That's mostly because of a 2014 firmware update which prevents the TV from being hacked over the Internet.