If You’re Surprised by CIA WikiLeaks, You Haven’t Been Paying Attention

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WikiLeaks published thousands of pages of confidential CIA documents, detailing the hacking tools developed by the agency. Among other things, Weeping Angel is a recipe for turning on the microphone of the Samsung F8000 Smart TV. This might seem alarming – but I’ve reviewed the CIA documents, and I’m less than impressed with the hand-wringing and general angst.

Don’t misunderstand me: I am impressed with the technical chops of the engineers working on the CIA project. They know their stuff and have solved some interesting problems. They carefully document their work and provide examples. If all software projects were this carefully managed, we’d be in much better shape.

What I’m bah-humbugging about is the reaction to this information. Folks – leaky technology is nothing new and if you’re surprised then you haven’t been paying attention.

Here’s an example: WikiLeaks states “As of October 2014 the CIA was also looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks. The purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.HeyWikiLeaks. This has already been done and demonstrated! I just attended a conference where a presenter described the methods used – complete with powerpoint slides. This is not news. It’s doubtful you could even propose this as a presentation at one of the many security conferences.

IoT Security has been an issue for a long time

Weeping Angel is a spy tool. It turns on a microphone on a television. Guess what – Amazon Alexa does this without any hacking necessary – in fact, that’s it’s main consumer appeal – it’s always listening to everything you say. If you want to spy on someone, just buy them a home assistant. No need for cloak-and-dagger.

Here’s my point: IoT is going to force us to re-examine our assumptions of privacy. The CIA documents only confirm that fact. For years, we’ve assumed that email and web-browser activity is not secure. It can be read by anyone – encryption tools only make it more difficult, not impossible. Now we are welcoming devices into our homes and businesses that expose us to that same lack of confidentiality. The sooner we accept that, the quicker we can come to a realistic solution.

Source : Linkedin

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