Who Actually Did Leak CIA Cyber Weapons Data?

The largest known data theft in CIA history happened because a cyber espionage unit had an employee who took advantage of weak security and gave secret hacking tools to WikiLeaks, according to a secet internal report just released. 

The breach was revealed in March 2017 when WikiLeaks published what it characterised as the largest-ever trove of acquired CIA documents, known as ‘Vault 7’. The hacking tools stolen in the breach, which occurred in 2016, came from its clandestine Center for Cyber Intelligence (CCI). The amount of data stolen is unknown, the memo said, but could be as much as 34 terabytes of data which is the equivalent of 2.2 billion pages of text. 

A former CIA employee, Joshua Schulte, has been accused of being behind the leak, altough a federal grand jury this year failed to reach a verdict on allegations of illegal gathering and transmission of national security information. The leaked material attracted controversy, showing that the CIA had the capability to perform widespread electronic surveillance, including compromising individuals’ smartphones, cars, computers and smart TVs.

Whistle-blower Edward Snowden criticised the CIA for intentionally maintaining vulnerabilities in US products. The theft was revealed around a year later, in March 2017, when WikiLeaks published what it claimed was the largest trove of CIA documents, dubbed "Vault 7," detailing some of the agency's sophisticated cyber weapons, this was reported by the Washington Post.

That incident prompted a review by the CIA WikiLeaks Task Force, which submitted its findings to then-Director Mike Pompeo and his deputy, who is now the director, Gina Haspel.  

While the CIA declined to comment on any specific report, agency spokesperson Timothy Barrett told CNN, "CIA works to incorporate best-in-class technologies to keep ahead of and defend against ever-evolving threats... The report is heavily redacted but clearly states that the breach came as a result of a series of security shortcomings ."

The task force memo was released by Democrat Senataor Ron Wyden,  who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who obtained an incomplete, redacted version from the Justice Department. In a letter to the new Director of National Intelligence, Wyden asked for more information about "widespread cybersecurity problems across the intelligence community." 

The material published by WikiLeaks in 2017 suggested that the CIA had become the globe's pre-eminent hacking operation, breaking into high-tech phones and televisions to spy on people worldwide. 

Leaked information published by WikiLeaks as part of the "Vault 7" series contained notes about how the agency allegedly targeted individuals through malware and physical hacking on devices including phones, computers and TVs. 

To hide its operations, the CIA routinely adopted techniques that enabled its hackers to appear as if they were Russian, according to the documents published by WikiLeaks. 

The CIA's lax cybersecurity practices were also highlighted during the trial of Joshua Schulte, the ex-CIA employee who is accused of handing over reams of classified data to WikiLeaks in 2016. The October 2017 CIA report was introduced as evidence during the trial and Schulte's attorneys argued that the system's security was so poor that the information could have been accessed by a large number of employees. 

Following the failed prosection, it is still not officially known whether or nor Schulte actually did give the data to WikiLeaks. 

Wikileaks:     CNN:       New York Times:      US Senate:      Engineering Technology:     Politico:    Brian Krebs: 

Image: CIA 

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