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CIA malware and hacking tools

wikileaks.org

291–300 of 1001 posts

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#291
post #214
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has less to do with how I feel and more to do with how the CIA is setup. Their role in domestic affairs is severely restricted, that is primarily the job of the FBI which has more requirements to conduct "searches". For them to be operating to the fullest extent of their perceived role, I can't find myself to be upset.

As you accept elsewhere, there is the law, and there is reality. Oversight is captured; the intelligence agencies and surrounding industry has been given almost everything they wanted, even retroactively[1]. Information sharing has also removed a lot of practical barriers; what does it mean for the CIA to be constrained if they can use other agencies for domestic work? Interdepartmental rivalry is still a constraint,…

Precisely.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#292
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Command & Control and Listening Post software were classified, then CIA officers could be prosecuted or dismissed for violating rules that prohibit placing classified information onto the Internet. Consequently the CIA has secretly made most of its cyber spying/war code unclassified. This is almost hilarious. Not that being classified would make any difference: cyber-"weapons" have something in common with biologic…

The US chemical weapons program is downright frightening. Unlike these exploits which you can just leave in an office and never use (and which con subsequently go stale as people find and patch exploits), chemical weapons were stored in massive US facilities and many of them have started leaking over the years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjA0EQPeUGM

> The US chemical weapons program is downright frightening.

Was: they committed to destroying those weapons, and have been doing so for 24 years. They were 89.75% complete in 2012. The video you linked was from 1973.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_chemical_weapons...

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#293
post #284
post #272

Quit with the fucking conspiracy theories. Seriously -- can we get a fucking mod in here to get rid of this shit.

I support your plea for avoiding hysteria but this stuff passed dismissal as mere conspiracy long ago. All plausible angles must be considered with this stuff. The CIA and FSB are in the business of deniability so it takes more than just a surface level reality check to discredit.

I live in DC, and have a bunch of friends in common with Seth. The crowd of tinfoil-hat-wearing jackasses spreading this bullshit do nothing but continue to cause pain for his family and friends.

Y'all can hide behind your keyboards, but there are real people here. Think about them for a change.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the above is certainly plausible(killing someone with a car), I highly doubt this is the case here: https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-michael-hastings-crash-car...

While I don't think the CIA is above killing a US citizen on US soil (you know, for "security" or something), I don't think they need to hack a vehicle to do it, nor would they want to draw the unnecessary speculation and attention. I would expect antics like that to be reserved for high-ranking foreign officials or other hard-to-reach people. If there's one thing that agency should be expected to excel in, it's untr…

Given the relatively low amount of public scrutiny/outrage/attention/fear that this death caused, wouldn't you say that the car technique would be effective? (whether or not it was used in this case)

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#295
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's form I-94W [1] for those who are curious. We also had to promise we'd not been traficking drugs and were not planning on engaging in illegal or immoral activities, and more. I always wonder how many idiots have been denied entry because they were dumb enough/drunk enough to think it'd be fun to tick the wrong box on that form. I also love how under the Paperwork Reduction Act they have had to estimate the burd…

You misunderstand the point of the form. The point is that if later you are suspected of one of those activities, you can be deported because you lied on the form, even though it might be impossible to convict you for the activity itself.

This is absolutely correct. Plus, what they did may not be illegal per se, but we might not want them in the country. For example, I'm not aware of any U.S. law that specifically makes it illegal to have been Nazi concentration camp guard. But we don't want people like that in the country and want to deport them if they are ever found here. Hence the purpose of the immigration form.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#296
post #10

Maybe it is just my lack of knowledge but why were all the recently leaked hacking tools made by US and none by Russia or China?

The CIA dump apparently contains malware stolen from other countries. So perhaps if/when wikileaks starts releasing them, that'll include Russian/Chinese malware.

It may also be that they simply have far smaller security states, with fewer people who feel alarm at the extent of what's happening. Or maybe leaking to Wikileaks just isn't in vogue in those countries.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#297

This had the potential of being a positive development brought by Trump's election: many behaviors by the US three letter agencies that were glossed over for the past 8 years (due to the party in power being "on the right side of history") are again reprehensible and deemed a threat to be fought by the tech community.

Anyone that thinks the Trump administration is going to lead the charge on reforming these agencies is foolhardy. Governments rely on information to function. Once an administration comes into power and sees the amount of information provided to them through these means, there's no way they would relinquish it in any meaningful sense.

> Anyone that thinks the Trump administration is going to lead the charge on reforming these agencies is foolhardy.

I think they were saying that the public (and tech community especially) will demand the reforms because they view Trump as nefarious; not that Trump & co will freely relinquish them.

Re: CIA malware and hacking tools

#298

I looked through the leak, they promised source codes, all I found was source codes from various public projects. For the CIA tools, there was only descriptions and guides to how to get it implemented and in use, not the actual source code.

Wikileaks said they have the source code but they're not releasing it for now:

"Wikileaks has carefully reviewed the "Year Zero" disclosure and published substantive CIA documentation while avoiding the distribution of 'armed' cyberweapons until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA's program and how such 'weapons' should analyzed, disarmed and published."

Source: https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/

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