WikiLeaks releases trove showing alleged CIA tech hacking

WikiLeaks on Tuesday released a huge trove of documents, allegedly taken from the CIA, describing methods used by the agency to hack into some of the world's most popular technology platforms and circumvent encryption, including those of smart devices. According to the documents, the CIA targets systems including Microsoft's Windows and Google's Android, and has the capability to inject malicious code, access user names and passwords, and control devices such as iPads and iPhones. The trove includes files on the possibility of accessing smart TVs and computer systems installed in cars. The CIA is working together with the NSA and friendly foreign governments, such as Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, for the hacking effort, according to the documents. The hackers were said to be based at the agency's headquarters and the US Consulate in the German city of Frankfurt. Reports said that the hacking could even allow the agency to access encrypted data and messages on mobile phones. The hacking tools themselves, however, were not released.
Wikilweaks claimed the documents came from "an isolated, high-security network" within the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, adding that the trove "appears to have been circulated among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive." The CIA declined to comment.