Archives for 2017

Leak suggests CIA malware systems have targeted iPhones, Android systems, Microsoft software and Samsung smart TVs.

by Al Jazeera

The CIA can turn your TV into a listening device, bypass popular encryption apps, and possibly control your car, according to thousands of documents published by WikiLeaks, an anti-surveillance group.

The group posted nearly 9,000 documents on Tuesday it said were leaked from the Central Intelligence Agency, in what it described as the largest-ever publication of secret intelligence materials.

It said the trove of documents “appears to have been circulated among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorised manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive”.

Jonathan Liu, a spokesman for the CIA, said: “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents.”

Experts who have started to sift through the material said that it appeared legitimate.

The leak, named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, claims the CIA developed a malware to infect mobile phones to allow easier surveillance – but lost control of the technology. If the CIA really lost control of the technology, hackers worldwide could use the tools to steal data.

Edward McAndrew, a lawyer with a speciality in cyber security, said the security breach is a major concern for the CIA because its technology could already be in the wrong hands

“What we’re hearing from WikiLeaks and others is that pieces of the toolkit are now outside of Langley [the CIA’s Virginia headquarters],” he told Al Jazeera.

“If that’s true, once these tools are introduced into the wild of the internet, they cannot be reclaimed. We’ll then see a race between those who would use these tools to exploit others and those trying to close all these vulnerabilities that have now come to light.”

Why is this dangerous? Because until closed, any hacker can use the security hole the CIA left open to break into any iPhone in the world. https://t.co/xK0aILAdFI

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017

The actual hacking tools were not part of the WikiLeaks trove.

WikiLeaks said it planned to avoid distributing tools “until a consensus emerges” on the political nature of the CIA’s programme and how such software could be analysed, disarmed and published.

Malware systems

WikiLeaks said the documents show the CIA has produced more than 1,000 malware systems – viruses, trojans, and other software that can infiltrate and take control of target electronics.

These hacking tools have targeted iPhones, Android systems such as the kind of personal phone reportedly still used by President Donald Trump, popular Microsoft software and Samsung smart TVs, which can be transformed into covert microphones, according to WikiLeaks.

The agency has also examined hacking into the electronic control systems on cars and trucks, potentially enabling it to control them.

By infecting smartphones, WikiLeaks said, the CIA can get around the encryption technologies of popular apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Weibo, and Confide by collecting communications before they are encrypted.

Matthew Green, professor of computer science, told Al Jazeera that “ordinary people” should not have to worry about the revelations.

“What I would perhaps worry about is that some of this might get into the hands of very sophisticated criminal organisations or foreign governments and be used in a very targeted way against activists or human rights workers,” he said.

Contrary to the UN Human Rights Council proposals, EU diplomats say they prefer existing mechanism to probe abuses.

Rohingya refugee women sit inside their home at a refugee camp in Bangladesh [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Myanmar looks set to escape an international investigation into alleged atrocities against its Rohingya minority, after the European Union decided not to seek one at the UN Human Rights Council, a draft resolution seen by Reuters news agency showed.

The EU takes note in the draft resolution seen on Wednesday, of “the very serious nature of the allegations” and “current investigations conducted at the domestic level”.

But it stops short of the investigation sought by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.

EU diplomats told a meeting on Tuesday that they preferred using an existing mechanism that had received good cooperation and access from Myanmar’s government, rather than a new approach, and to give more time to the domestic process.

The EU has historically taken the lead on issues relating to Myanmar on the Council.

Zeid, in a renewed appeal on Wednesday, told the Council that the severe violations follow “longstanding persecution” of the stateless Rohingya minority in majority-Buddhist Myanmar, and warranted a review by the International Criminal Court.

“I therefore urge the Council, at minimum, to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the violence against the Rohingya, particularly during security operations since 9 October 2016,” he said.

The UN said in a report last month that the army and police had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state, and burned villages in a campaign that may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Independent probe

Setting up a full international commission of inquiry into the findings – similar to those for Syria and North Korea – has been seen as a test of international resolve at the main annual session of the Council that ends on March 24.

The draft resolution from the EU suggests it may fail that test.

Some 70,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya armed men on border posts, in which nine police officers were killed.

Human rights monitors have voiced serious doubts that several investigative commissions set up by the Aung San Suu Kyi government and its security forces had the tools and independence needed for an impartial probe.

Activists said the security forces continued to carry out serious crimes demanding an international probe.

“Our research indicates that it (the abuse) is systematic, and the idea that the government could or would be able to participate in a proper investigation of what is going on simply isn’t realistic,” said Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch.

“An investigation needs to be independent, credible and international.”