Vault 7

08.03.2017
USA

The CIA’s global cyberwar against the rest of the world.

The hacking tools of America’s infamous intelligence services have been revealed.

On March 7, Wikileaks began to publish another series of CIA documents under the title “Vault 7.” In total, the number of files is about 9,000, which is the largest leak of confidential documents in the entire history of the American intelligence service. All of them are devoted to the topic of cyber weapons - spyware and malware, viruses, trojans, and zero-day exploits which were developed by US governmental hackers.

The problem is not only that these methods pose a threat to most states in the world, as well as the rights and freedoms of their citizens, but also that many of them were unleashed by the US government which has led to the risk of a global proliferation of dangerous software among international hackers groups, some of whom have links to criminal and terrorist organizations (it is no secret that ISIS also actively uses advanced hacker applications and programs).

The survey period covered is from 2013 to 2016.

Global surveillance

Operatives of the CIA worked not only from US territory. In addition to its main headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the CIA also uses the US consulate in Frankfurt as a hidden base for its hackers covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

CIA hackers working in Germany receive diplomatic ("black") passports with the seal of the State Department. The story for all operatives is practically the same: “technical support” for consultations in the US Consulate. And upon being in Frankfurt, CIA hackers can move freely without further border checks in 25 European countries that are part of the open border Schengen zone.

Most likely, CIA agents have conducted and are conducting similar activities in Asian and Latin American countries.

Possible response

These leaks force us to rethink strategic approaches to the Internet space and develop appropriate measures to protect the sovereign informational (and technological) space. The Internet of things, which is predicted to be a great success in the near future (note, this trend is mainly promoted by representatives of liberal pro-Western views), in this light seems to be just a convenient trap for the global surveillance of millions of consumers of "smart" gadgets around the world.

Related links
Cybergeopolitics: Issues of Ideology
Cyber Threats from Within: How the US Manipulates the Internet Space
The CIA plot Against alternative media
CIA
Vault 7
Wikileaks
cyber