In the past week, there has been big news in the tech industry as it was reveiled that WikiLeaks had published thousands of documents, it codenamed as ‘Vault 7’ which highlights how the CIA has produced code that can hack into, just about, any electronic device on Earth. Here is a everything you need to know about this huge news concerning the privacy of everyone.

What was Released?

WikiLeaks published an archive of documents from the CIA that they have codenamed as ‘Vault 7. The archive consists of around 8,700 documents and files, with information in them on how the CIA has found ‘loop holes’ in the software of Apple, Android, Microsoft and Samsung TV software. From this, they had developed code to use these loop holes to hack the devices, to record using the cameras and microphones on devices, as well as downloading information on the devices. This includes reading messages on encrypted devices from apps such as WhatsApp – WhatsApp has been adamant to privacy by encrypting all messages on the app. However, the privacy of apps is only as good as the privacy of the device – the code from the CIA can read messages before they are encrypted by WhatsApp, making the encryption of WhatsApp messages almost redudant.

However, due to the power such a code could give hackers if misplaced, Wikileaks have not published the code itself.

What have the CIA said?

Of course, the CIA are not going to confirm that what has been released are actual documents from the CIA. It is slightly embarrassing on the CIA’s part since they are meant to be spying on bad people in the world. But, in actual fact, Wikileaks have managed to spy and gain access to the most sensitive of data and code from the CIA – this does raise huge concerns and questions over the security of the CIA.

Although the CIA have not stated that the archive that has been published is legitimate, they have stated that it is their job to spy on people outside of the United States of America.

What does this Mean for Everyone?

Although it is huge news, it should not come as a shock to people that the CIA can hack into anyone’s phone – this was always going to be the case, just the CIA would have preferred that it was kept quiet rather than having the whole of it publicised.

The problem many people have with this story, though, is the fact that the CIA found some major flaws in security of Apple, Android and Microsoft phones and chose not to tell the companies, so that the companies did not fix the flaws and prevent the CIA from taking advantage of the flaws.

However, what would have stopped hackers from finding the flaws and using it for their own benefits?

This is the main problem with the CIA. If they notify of flaws, they can’t do their job of spying. If they do not, they are putting everyone at risk of allowing hackers to find the same flaw – it is a bit of a catch 22.