WikiLeaks nukes CIA, digital giants with multi-megaton PR crisis
Can the CIA spy on you by hacking your smartphones, TVs, cars and computer operating systems? Did it unleash malware on the world? A document dump leaves organizations scrambling.
Once upon a time—not too long ago—you’d be dismissed as a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist if you claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency was listening in on everything you say.
But this week’s allegations from WikiLeaks that the CIA can hack smartphones, TVs and cars have detonated a public relations neutron bomb over the biggest digital organizations and device makers on the planet.
Meanwhile, the crisis klaxons are blaring in Washington, D.C. and at the CIA’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters.
On Tuesday WikiLeaks released a trove of 8,800 CIA documents and files it calls “Vault 7.” The digital dump allegedly details the agency’s covert hacking, malware arsenals and “weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.”
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.
