Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - Year Zero： The First #Vault7 Leak

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March 8, 2017 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

19:15

Year Zero： The First #Vault7 Leak

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	On Tuesday 7th March 2017, Wikileaks released Year Zero, the first batch of 8,761 documents from Vault 7, a collection of leaked CIA documents and programs from the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
	These documents were from an isolated high-security network inside the Center for Cyber Intelligence.
	Wikileaks have declined to release the hacking tools that they've received and redacted all of the names from the released documents.
	The anonymous source of the leaks, quote, wishes to initiate a public debate about the security creation use proliferation and democratic control of cyber weapons.
	In this video we'll be looking at how we know this is real, how the CIA watches the world and what they do with this power, as well as new revelations about internal CIA infrastructure and adding additional context.
	Wikileaks have an impeccable reputation and none of the documents that they have leaked have turned out to be false.
	In 2013 they disseminated documents received from private first class Bradley Manning which revealed the collateral murder video showing a US helicopter firing on a group that included Reuters journalists, the war logs of Iraq and Afghanistan that showed much higher civilian casualties than reported, extra information about Guantanamo Bay prison and the State Department cables revealing insider US diplomatic information.
	To add extra context, also released by The Guardian in 2013 were the Edward Snowden files which showed us the NSA's PRISM mass data collection program that takes information from the US public at large as well as around the world, the Boundless Informant Worldwide Mass Metadata Collecting Programme, the active hacking of China and other G20 members including European allies, as well as the hacking of up to 38 foreign embassies,
	and secretly collecting millions of emails and chat contact lists from the general public, and revealing that the NSA collects 200 million text messages worldwide per day.
	Again, this was released by The Guardian and not Wikileaks, but Edward Snowden seems to be very supportive of Wikileaks work, and I think that's important.
	And in 2016, Wikileaks released the Podesta emails, which are the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta, which showed us that the Clintons engaged in pay-for-play with corporations and foreign governments, and that Hillary Clinton was the beneficiary of a conspiracy to prevent Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee for the Democratic Party that included Donald Brazil and Tim Kane, among others.
	We found out about Hillary's public and private opinions on covert action in Syria, refugees and open borders, and finally we saw that there was collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Department of Justice.
	The leaks were also confirmed by Shane Harris, the senior national security writer for the Wall Street Journal.
	And Edward Snowden believes that they look authentic, based on program and office names such as the JQJ Crypt series, which are real.
	Apparently only a cleared insider could know them.
	I think we can be certain that the Year Zero leaks regarding the CIA's worldwide hacking capabilities are true, so let's take a look at what means the CIA has at its disposal.
	One of the most important means is that the CIA hoarded vulnerabilities known as Zero Days.
	Wikileaks says, In the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks about the NSA, the US technology industry secured a commitment from the Obama administration that the executive would disclose on an ongoing basis, rather than hoard, serious vulnerabilities, exploits, bugs, or quote zero days to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other US-based manufacturers.
	The US government's commitment to the vulnerabilities equities process came after significant lobbying by US technology companies, who risk losing their share of the global market over real and perceived hidden vulnerabilities.
	The government stated that it would disclose all pervasive vulnerabilities discovered after 2010 on an ongoing basis.
	Year Zero documents show that the CIA breached the Obama administration's commitments.
	Many of the vulnerabilities used in the CIA's cyber arsenal are pervasive and some may already have been found by rival intelligence agencies or cyber criminals.
	The CIA maintain a library of application development techniques borrowed from In the Wild malware.
	The goal of this repository is to provide functional code snippets that can be rapidly combined into custom solutions.
	Rather than building feature-rich tools which are often costly and can have significant CI value, the effort focuses on developing smaller and more targeted solutions to build operational specifications.
	We also have access to their best practices in the development Tradecraft Do's and Don'ts, which is a remarkably long list to ensure that all of the operations taken do not bear the hallmarks of the CIA themselves, that are designed not only to obfuscate the physical location of where the cyber attacks originated, but also to prevent forensic identification of the methods used.
	So if an attack is reverse engineered, the author of the hack is not immediately apparent, or indeed can be used to frame someone else.
	In their press release, Wikileaks make a note that much of the in-the-wild malware that's borrowed from the internet is actually stolen from rival intelligence agencies.
	One of the many things that the CIA can do with all of these various hacking techniques is gain access to any smartphone on the planet.
	The CIA has a special mobile development branch that deals exclusively with Apple, both their iPhones and any other Apple products running their iOS, and a sister unit that targets Google Android products.
	The CIA has apparently weaponized at least 24 Android zero days, which it developed itself and obtained from the GCHQ, NSA and cyber arms contractors.
	With these techniques, they can not only access almost any electronic device on Earth, but they can also bypass the encryption of popular messaging services, such as WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Weibo, Confide, and Clockman, by hacking the smartphones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before the encryption is applied.
	Edward Snowden also believes that the iOS exploits data is the first public evidence that the US government secretly pays to keep US software unsafe.
	And Wikileaks informs us that the CIA recently lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal, including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized zero-day exploits, malware remote control systems, and associated documentation, giving whoever possesses it the entire hacking capacity of the CIA.
	And apparently the archive appears to have been circulating among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided it to Wikileaks with a portion of the archive.
	You may remember that in February 2016, CEO of Apple Tim Cook said that they won't create universal iPhone backdoors for the FBI to be able to hack into their products.
	Not only do we not know the veracity of this claim because the FBI withdrew their lawsuit against Apple, but it also makes the FBI look rather primitive in comparison to the highly advanced techniques that are available to the CIA.
	And in light of what we know now, Tim Cook's words resonate more than ever.
	He says, The implications of the government's demands are chilling.
	If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone's device to capture their data.
	The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location or even access your phone's microphone or camera without your knowledge.
	We think this is incredibly dangerous.
	We've been offering encryption tools in our products for years, and we're going to stay on that path.
	We think it's a critical feature for our customers who want to keep their data secure.
	For years we've offered encryption services like iMessage and FaceTime because we believe the contents of your text messages and your video chats is none of our business.
	It would seem that the Year Zero leaks are Tim Cook's worst fears come to life, as the government is not only capable of accessing your phone, any phone, but also capable of accessing your camera, your microphone, and bypassing any encryption on the device.
	But Tim Cook's worst fears on the issue do not actually cover the scope of what the CIA is able to do.
	For example, they are able to make Android phones bulk spy on Wi-Fi networks around them, conducting blanket data collection of all Wi-Fi traffic around the device that can then be analyzed at a later date.
	And it goes even further than that.
	The CIA is able to remotely access Samsung smart TVs and make them appear to be off while at the same time recording conversations from within the room using the microphone that is on the TV.
	You may insert your favourite George Orwell quote here.
	You may also remember that in June 2013, Microsoft's Xbox One console required an always-on internet connection.
	For reasons unknown, it not only required a persistent broadband connection, but recommended a 1.5 megabits per second connection or better, and even supported mobile broadband.
	And we know that this was not part of the core functionality of this game's console, because after much public outcry, Microsoft decided to reverse the decision and removed this requirement.
	But even more disturbing than this is that we have an indication that from the branch direction meeting notes from 2014, the CIA was looking at infecting the vehicle control systems used by modern cars and trucks.
	Wikileak says that the purpose of such control is not specified, but it would permit the CIA to engage in nearly undetectable assassinations.
	This information has already spawned a conspiracy theory and it's not without its merits.
	There are many people asking the question, was journalist Michael Hastings assassinated by the CIA in a remote car hack?
	Hastings died on June the 18th, 2013 in a fiery, high-speed automobile crash in his Mercedes C-250 coupe following the publication of Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans on BuzzFeed.
	Hastings had been a vocal critic of the Obama administration.
	Following his death, former US National Coordinator for Security Infrastructure Protection and Counter-Terrorism Richard A. Clarke said that Hastings' crash was consistent with a car cyber attack.
	Clark told the Huffington Post, What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch the airbag.
	You can do some really highly destructive things now through hacking a car, and it's not that hard.
	In the case of Michael Hastings' death, if he was assassinated via a car cyber attack, we know already the motive and the opportunity, but now we know the means.
	We also learned more about the CIA's internal infrastructure that is normally kept secret from the outside world.
	For example, we learned that the US consulate in Frankfurt also houses a covert CIA hacking base.
	This is no doubt causing many a new and unwelcome diplomatic issue with Germany, as we already know that the US was spying on not only Angela Merkel and her ministers, but the entire German people.
	And as Wikileaks observed on Twitter, Obama has a history of tapping and hacking his friends and rivals.
	Not only was Obama doing this to his friends and allies, he was quite possibly doing it from within their own countries.
	And do not think you will be spared the all-seeing eye of Big Brother by cooperating with the CIA, as they apparently hacked their own double agents so often that they were a checkbox on a menu of popular attack types.
	The final piece of infrastructure information that has been initially revealed from these leaks is for a set of future plans that had the internet metaphorically rolling in the aisles due to the low quality of them.
	In one exchange, CIA hackers brag about having the dankest Trojans to use against Windows, and if you're in any way familiar with internet parlance, you'll know that that is a reference to top-tier memes.
	This is not quite the non-sequitur it first appears to be, as the CIA have a proposed, and I'm not joking, meme warfare center.
	The meme warfare center as a staff organization has the primary mission to advise the commander on meme generation, transmission, coupled with a detailed analysis on enemy, friendly, and non-combatant populations.
	The meme warfare center aims for a full-spectrum capability of meme generation, analysis, quality control and assurance, and organic transmission apparatus.
	The proposed meme warfare structure lays in stark contrast to the ad hoc nature of current IO and JPOTF formations.
	Military memes.
	Military operations produce memes, both intended and unintended.
	The unintended effects of memes are normally regarded as second and third order effects.
	On occasion, the second and third order effects are the product of deliberate planning.
	However, many times they cannot be accurately forecasted.
	Memes as above are defined as cultural bits of information replicated and transmitted from mind to mind.
	Memes influence, affect, generate, and alter ideas.
	A central theme behind this replication and transmission is individual and societal contact and interaction.
	Contact in this sense connotes both direct and indirect means.
	Contact with the enemy, friendlies, or the community at large provides a vehicle or medium for, and that's unfortunately all the text we have.
	But the point is, as amusing as this might be, and believe me, I also find it amusing, I also find it very disturbing that the CIA has specific meme warfare centers and military memes in an attempt to modify culture.
	Although it sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, this is an attempt to affect society at a much broader level than simply spying and hacking would ever be able to produce.
	This is a look at the proposed structure for the meme warfare center.
	A meme management officer with a meme and info integration officer would command the internal meme center and external memes center, with such typical jobs including meme analysts and meme engineers.
	If any CIA normies are watching this, get out.
	Leading up to the release of all of this information, Wikileaks were planning on doing a live video conference over Facebook that was delayed and eventually cancelled because they claimed that they were under attack.
	The Vault 7 file that included all of this information was released in advance, but the password for it was not, and was scheduled to be released an hour after the conference began.
	However, the video conference did not begin, and instead, Wikileaks released the passphrase to Vault 7 an hour early.
	The decryption phrase was, splinter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.
	This is a quote from John F. Kennedy about what he was planning to do to the CIA.
	Of course, we have no way of knowing if this was the CIA interfering with the Wikileaks press briefing, but Wikileaks does have evidence that the Obama administration has spied on their journalists before.
	There may well be people who wonder why I keep mentioning Obama and his administration.
	Well, the CIA's website will explain it for us.
	Only the President can direct the CIA to undertake a covert action.
	Such actions are usually recommended by the National Security Council.
	Covert actions are considered when the NSC judges that US foreign policy objectives may not be fully realized by normal diplomatic means and when military action is deemed to be too extreme an option.
	Therefore, the agency may be directed to conduct a special activity abroad in support of foreign policy where the role of the US government is neither apparent nor publicly acknowledged.
	Once tasked, the intelligence oversight committees of the Congress must be notified.
	I would be surprised if the things that we have covered in this video have fallen within the letter of the law as described by the CIA here.
	And I would be very surprised if the intelligence oversight committees of the Congress had all of this information before Wikileaks did.
	I have to say, I am very concerned about how the Year 1 leaks make the Obama administration look remarkably authoritarian.
	You may remember that in April 2010, Obama authorized the assassination of a US citizen without due process.
	The Obama White House expressly authorized the CIA to kill Al-Alwaki, no matter where he was found, no matter what his distance from the battlefield, via a drone strike.
	This happened in Yemen, so this was not something that contravened the CIA's directive as they stated it.
	But honestly, I'm not sure which one is worse.
	That Obama was aware of everything that the CIA has been doing according to these leaks, and again, I have no reason to believe that any of these leaks are false, and it may well be that Michael Hastings was assassinated by the CIA.

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