Articles about Wikileaks

In the wake of WikiLeaks' Vault 7 CIA leaks, Apple has been quick to point out that vulnerabilities mentioned in the documents have already been addressed. Microsoft and Samsung have said they are "looking into" things, and now the Linux Foundation has spoken out.

Nicko van Someren, Chief Technology Officer at The Linux Foundation says that while it is "not surprising" that Linux would find itself a target, the open source project has a very fast release cycle, meaning that kernel updates are released every few days to address issues that are found.

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The Vault 7 document and code cache released yesterday by WikiLeaks revealed that many big software companies were being actively exploited by the CIA. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and even Linux were all named as having vulnerabilities that could be used for surveillance.

Apple was one of the first of the companies mentioned in the documents to speak out and address concerns and security. But while the iPhone manufacturer has quickly indicated that it has fixed "many" of the vulnerabilities, Microsoft and Samsung have merely said they are looking into the issues raised. Other companies and groups mentioned have made no comment at all.

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Yesterday WikiLeaks unleashed Vault 7 online, revealing a wealth of information about the CIA's hacking tools and techniques. Included in the data dump was the suggestion that the CIA was actively exploiting vulnerabilities in iOS and other software to listen in on people. Apple has responded by saying that "many" of these security holes have been fixed.

Importantly, the company is unable to say that all of the vulnerabilities being used -- or that have been historically used -- by the CIA have been addressed, but it does insist that it "will continue work to rapidly address" problems that are found. A number of iOS security flaws have been exploited by the CIA to surveil individuals, or even take remote control of devices.

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WikiLeaks has unleashed a treasure trove of data to the internet, exposing information about the CIA's arsenal of hacking tools. Code-named Vault 7, the first data is due to be released in serialized form, starting off with "Year Zero" as part one. A cache of over 8,500 documents and files has been made available via BitTorrent in an encrypted archive.

The plan had been to release the password at 9:00am ET today, but when a scheduled online press conference and stream came "under attack" prior to this, the password was released early. Included in the "extraordinary" release are details of the zero day weapons used by the CIA to exploit iPhones, Android phones, Windows, and even Samsung TVs to listen in on people. Routers, Linux, macOS -- nothing is safe.

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has activated his Twitter account. His profile gives his location as the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and describes him as "refugee" who is "picking the lock to the chain that enslaves mankind -- ignorance."

Within minutes of activating the account, Assange managed to amass thousands of followers, and this is a number that is sure to skyrocket in the coming days now that the account is actually being used. So what did the reclusive man have to say with his first tweet?

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The hatred WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange feels towards Hillary Clinton is far from being a secret. During the election campaign, the non-profit organization leaked Clinton emails in the hope that it would destroy her presidential hopes -- and we all know the result of the election.

As we slide gently into 2017, the WikiLeaks Twitter account has turned on the ignition and is about to hit the accelerator. The tweet says: "If you thought 2016 was a big WikiLeaks year 2017 will blow you away". On top of this, Assange himself is due to appear in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, denying Russia's involvement in hacking DNC emails.

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News emerged this week that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had been cut off from the internet. Now Ecuador -- in whose embassy he is holed up in London -- has said that it is responsible.

The move comes after WikiLeaks continued with its threats to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton, which could possibly boost the popularity of Donald Trump. The country is keen not to be seen to be interfering with, or allowing interference with, the US election, saying it "respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states".

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Julian Assange promised to deliver a cache of emails that would harm 'liberal war hawk' Hillary Clinton and her presidential campaign. Living up to Assange's promise, Wikileaks delivered the goods.

It wasn't long before controversy struck, but this was not because of the content of the emails. The communication between US Democratic Party committee members was shared on Facebook but it didn't take long for the content to be blocked, leading to accusations of censorship.

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In a move that could boost Donald Trump's election campaign, WikiLeaks is on the verge of releasing more of Hillary Clinton's emails from her stint as US secretary of state. Clinton's use of a homebrew email server and a private email address for sending classified information has dogged her presidential campaign -- and Julian Assange is happy for that to continue.

The WikiLeaks founder, currently in exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, has made no secret of his loathing for Clinton. She is the subject of a federal investigation, and Assange is happy to add fuel to the fire by publicly releasing another batch of emails.

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The US government is busy putting thousands of its own employees under 'permanent surveillance' according to a document obtained by Chelsea Manning. In the wake of leaks by the likes of Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks, the government set up the Insider Threat program in an attempt to nip future leaks in the bud.

It's a while since Manning was in the news, the last notable appearance being when the solider formerly known as Bradley Manning joined Twitter from prison. But the latest document released by Manning -- obtained using a freedom of information request -- shows that the government is not afraid to use NSA-style tactics on its own employees.

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Like Edward Snowden, Julian Assange is an incredibly divisive character. Just as Snowden is viewed by some as a hero for exposing the activities of the NSA, so Assange is viewed as a hero for exposing -- amongst other things -- the darker side of the US military through WikiLeaks. But both figures are also viewed as villains by those who believe that their whistleblowing has endangered national security.

While Snowden scampered off to Russia to avoid the US legal system, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. While it's certainly true that he's a man of interest for the US which ultimately seeks to prosecute him over the activities of WikiLeaks, Assange is actually holed up in the UK to escape extradition to Sweden where he faces questioning over allegations of rape. He has continually used the additional prospect of extradition to the US for WikiLeaks-related questioning as an excuse for not facing the music in Sweden. This is just about as wrong as it's possible to be.

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The Tor browser is used by many to stay anonymous online -- and it's something that has been embraced by the likes of WikiLeaks as a way to safely gather information whilst hopefully avoiding the surveillance of the NSA. One lesser known project from the same stables is the Tor Cloud service, and Tor has announced that it is closing down.

Based on the Amazon EC2 cloud computing platform, Tor Cloud provided a way to share computing resources and allow faster uncensored access to the internet. However, the project is plagued with "at least one major bug ... that makes it completely dysfunctional" and after failing to find anyone to undertake the work, the decision was taken to shutter Tor Cloud. This does not mean that Tor itself is dead -- far from it -- and developers are being encouraged to create their own forked versions of Tor Cloud.

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WikiLeaks prides itself on bringing information to public attention that might otherwise stay hidden. In order to get this information out in the open, the organization is reliant on a wide range of sources. The sort of stories which WikiLeaks deals with would often not come to light if those breaking the stories could not be guaranteed anonymity.

A few days ago the Sun newspaper revealed that it was using SecureDrop as a way for people to give anonymous tips about stories, and it was touted at the time as being a WikiLeaks-style tool. Now Julian Assange has announced that WikiLeaks has upgraded its own submission tool to offer even greater security.

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The likes of Julian Assange's WikiLeaks have set the standard for blowing the lid on huge stories based on tips from anonymous sources. Whistle-blowers such as Edward Snowden have brought to public attention stories which would otherwise have been kept hidden from the public, and it has been with the help of newspapers such as the Guardian that this information has been disseminated around the world.

Other newspapers are keen to ride on the coattails of those blazing a trail in the world of investigative journalism, and the latest to join the party is The Sun. Today, Murdoch-owned News Corp's newspaper and website launches SecureDrop -- a way for whistle-blowers to anonymously leave tip-offs that can be further investigated.

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