More Vault 7 leaks from WikiLeaks: Archimedes is the CIA's man-in-the-middle hacking tool

WikiLeaks continues to release revealing documents from its Vault 7 cache. This time around the organization introduces us to a CIA tool called Archimedes -- previously known as Fulcrum.

As before, there is little to confirm whether or not the tool is still in active use -- or, indeed, if it has actually ever been used -- but the documentation shows how it can be installed on a LAN to perform a man-in-the-middle attack.

The manual itself explains how Archimedes works: "Archimedes is used to redirect LAN traffic from a target’s computer through an attacker controlled computer before it is passed to the gateway. This enables the tool to inject a forged web server response that will redirect the target’s web browser to an arbitrary location. This technique is typically used to redirect the target to an exploitation server while providing the appearance of a normal browsing session."

This particular leak is somewhat less interesting than the others that have appeared online, but by now it is possible that fatigue and de-sensitization have set in. Nonetheless, the documents published by WikiLeaks are worthy of attention.

Announcing the latest batch of documents -- a series of guides to using Archimedes -- WikiLeaks says:

Today, May 5th 2017, WikiLeaks publishes "Archimedes", a tool used by the CIA to attack a computer inside a Local Area Network (LAN), usually used in offices. It allows the re-directing of traffic from the target computer inside the LAN through a computer infected with this malware and controlled by the CIA. This technique is used by the CIA to redirect the target's computers web browser to an exploitation server while appearing as a normal browsing session.

The document illustrates a type of attack within a "protected environment" as the tool is deployed into an existing local network abusing existing machines to bring targeted computers under control and allowing further exploitation and abuse.

You can check out the documentation for yourself over on the WikiLeaks website.

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