Gadgetory

WikiLeaks has released documents claiming that the CIA has hacking tools designed to break into devices like phones TVs and routers these hacking tools allegedly include malware viruses and zero-day exploits that would let the CIA access iOS and Android smartphones turn Smart TVs into listening devices and access Microsoft's Windows CE net and CBS are currently unable to verify the authenticity of the WikiLeaks documents here are some of WikiLeaks main CIA hacking claims we've seen it's security reporter laura Hatala breaking down what these leaks actually mean so the CIA according to these claims has developed tools to hack into lots of popular smartphones phones like Android phones and iPhones the ones we all use and that allows them to have the same kind of access to the smart phone that you as a user would have if you unlock it with your thumbprint or a code and so the limits on these tools really are us surveillance law and the fact that the CIA is mandate is to spy on people outside of the United States signal and telegram have come out and said that this is not a problem with their apps it's a problem with the operating systems if those operating systems can be hacked then that means that they can access all kinds of apps on the phones so cyber security experts have a lot of concerns about smart home devices because a lot of them are very easy to hack and they do have things like embedded microphones and cameras so the fact that the CIA might have this tool to turn a Smart TV into a listening device goes along with all of those concerns and it's also true that Smart TV manufactures some in particular have come under fire for collecting user information without their knowledge so right now with the claims unverified and the company's still investigating what vulnerabilities they might have on their systems it's really hard for us to know what we can do to protect ourselves from these hacking tools but generally it's always good to have your software updated to the most recent version of your operating system and have all your applications updated to all so it's gonna be really interesting to see what these companies come out with in terms of software patches coming forward WikiLeaks has said that this is the beginning of a series of leaks about CIA hacking tools so you might be wondering how this is different from the NSA spy programs revealed by Edward Snowden and the answer is that those NSA programs went after information in different places in places like company servers and the backbone of the internet and they swept up tons of information in huge dragnet programs and these alleged CIA hacking tools are very targeted and they get into specific devices like cell phones and TVs to scoop up information on a specific person and they also get around a lot of the encryption tools that helped protect that information from programs like the NSA s