WikiLeaks’ release Tuesday of 9,000 pages of files purportedly exposing the CIA’s covert global hacking program appears to be authentic and is more significant than the Edward Snowden leaks, an intelligence source tells the Wall Street Journal.
Snowden, the former NSA contractor who exposed the agency’s surveillance programs in 2013, also pointed to the documents’ significance, calling it “genuinely a big deal,” adding that it “Looks authentic.”
The WSJ’s intelligence source also indicated that the release appears to be authentic, adding that the document dump could jeopardize ongoing intelligence operations. (RELATED: WikiLeaks Exposes CIA’s Global Covert Hacking Program)
Still working through the publication, but what @Wikileaks has here is genuinely a big deal. Looks authentic.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
What makes this look real?
Program & office names, such as the JQJ (IOC) crypt series, are real. Only a cleared insider could know them.— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
Among other things, the documents reveal how CIA hackers can turn smartphones and other electronics, including Samsung smart TVs, into covert listening devices to spy on a target without their knowledge.
WikiLeaks claims that one documents shows that the CIA was working on a program that could infect the vehicle control system of certain cars and trucks, potentially empowering “the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.”
WikiLeaks says the document dump is the largest publication of documents ever stolen from the CIA.