Wikileaks Issues A Beatdown To The CIA

Esaias · #1 03-09-2017, 04:11 PM

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2017/...wn-to-the-cia/

"What Wikileaks revealed today was that not only is the NSA doing it, but the CIA is doing it as well, and not only that, they’re possibly doing it better. And no, this isn’t restricted to overseas targets or terrorists, it’s being used on literally anyone and everyone they want to target. We also know that there is absolutely no statutory basis or justification for what the CIA is doing. None.
Next, consider what the CIA is doing. They are quite literally buying the vulnerabilities in U.S.-made software. They are paying money to keep the vulnerabilities in software and hardware in order to exploit those weaknesses. One more time so you get the point. They are creating and buying zero-day exploits for systems and of course refraining from telling the manufacturers of those devices. This is irresponsible and dangerous to the point of being criminal. It isn’t negligent, it’s intentionally criminal.
This lends itself to fraud, abuse, extortion, potential convictions in a courtroom with the use of illegally obtained material, material that violates the Fourth Amendment to the constitution. Here is something else. Since some of the malware is stolen from Russia, no one can ever, ever again trust the CIA when they say something like “this malware or hacking attack has a known Russian [or any other country for that matter] signature.” Never. "

More at the link.

n david · #2 03-09-2017, 04:33 PM

But....but....but....the CIA is one of the only agencies we can trust to tell the truth! Shame on this article ... writing such accusations will send a chill through the CIA! They should be able to do whatever they want, because we can trust them to be honest and abide by the law.

At least that's what the resident liberal would claim...

Jito463 · #3 03-09-2017, 08:39 PM

I decided to install Notepad++ yesterday on a computer at work, and this is what I found on the changelog at the website.

Quote:

v 7.3.3 - Fix CIA Hacking Notepad++ Issue

08 Mar 2017 21:58:00

"Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed" has been published by Wikileaks recentely, and Notepad++ is on the list.

The issue of a hijacked DLL concerns scilexer.dll (needed by Notepad++) on a compromised PC, which is replaced by a modified scilexer.dll built by the CIA. When Notepad++ is launched, the modified scilexer.dll is loaded instead of the original one.
It doesn't mean that CIA is interested in your coding skill or in your sex message content, but rather it prevents raising any red flags while the DLL does data collection in the background.

For remedying this issue, from this release (v7.3.3) forward, notepad++.exe checks the certificate validation in scilexer.dll before loading it. If the certificate is missing or invalid, then it just won't be loaded, and Notepad++ will fail to launch.

Checking the certificate of DLL makes it harder to hack. Note that once users’ PCs are compromised, the hackers can do anything on the PCs. This solution only prevents from Notepad++ loading a CIA homemade DLL. It doesn't prevent your original notepad++.exe from being replaced by modified notepad++.exe while the CIA is controlling your PC.

Just like knowing the lock is useless for people who are willing to go into my house, I still shut the door and lock it every morning when I leave home. We are in a ******* corrupted world, unfortunately.

Otherwise there are a lot of enhancements and bug-fixes which improve your Notepad++ experience. For all the detail change log, please check in the Download page.

Esaias · #4 03-09-2017, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jito463

I decided to install Notepad++ yesterday on a computer at work, and this is what I found on the changelog at the website.

Keep in mind certificate spoofing is low-level stuff. Requiring a certificate check is easily defeated by someone who wants to.

What's more troubling is the compromising of systems at root level and below (BIOS, CMOS, hardware hacks, etc).

The upside is cyber security will be an ever expanding industry as long as there's cyber to secure.

Aquila · #5 03-10-2017, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esaias

http://www.captainsjournal.com/2017/...wn-to-the-cia/

"What Wikileaks revealed today was that not only is the NSA doing it, but the CIA is doing it as well, and not only that, they’re possibly doing it better. And no, this isn’t restricted to overseas targets or terrorists, it’s being used on literally anyone and everyone they want to target. We also know that there is absolutely no statutory basis or justification for what the CIA is doing. None.
Next, consider what the CIA is doing. They are quite literally buying the vulnerabilities in U.S.-made software. They are paying money to keep the vulnerabilities in software and hardware in order to exploit those weaknesses. One more time so you get the point. They are creating and buying zero-day exploits for systems and of course refraining from telling the manufacturers of those devices. This is irresponsible and dangerous to the point of being criminal. It isn’t negligent, it’s intentionally criminal.
This lends itself to fraud, abuse, extortion, potential convictions in a courtroom with the use of illegally obtained material, material that violates the Fourth Amendment to the constitution. Here is something else. Since some of the malware is stolen from Russia, no one can ever, ever again trust the CIA when they say something like “this malware or hacking attack has a known Russian [or any other country for that matter] signature.” Never. "

More at the link.

Do we have any hard evidence of this?