Wikileaks Reveals How The CIA Can See Your Whatsapp Messages

A WikiLeaks data dump details ways in which the CIA can hack your devices. Here's everything we know.
The CIA may be equipped with an arsenal of hacking tools that can give it access to your phone, computer and other devices, according to a report by CBS News.

What did WikiLeaks publish?

WikiLeaks, the organization notorious for leaking highly secure government data, published a document exposing tactics the CIA uses to hack into our devices.

According to the WikiLeaks press release -- which includes information we have not yet independently verified -- the CIA lost control of an archive that details the ways in which it hacks devices. The archive landed in the hands of "former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive."

What do I need to know?

Here's the TL;DR: If the information WikiLeaks exposed is accurate, the CIA may be equipped with a variety of tools that let it hack into your phone, smart TV, computer and router. Basically, all the things you own that are connected to the internet.

It turns out that the CIA's tools can be used to read encrypted messages send on otherwise secure apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.

What kind of devices can the CIA hack?

According to the report, the CIA can hack devices like:

Android phones
iPhones
Smart TVs (the report specifically outs Samsung TVs)
Routers
Windows and Linux computers
Mac computers

Can the CIA really read all of my encrypted WhatsApp (and other app) messages?

WikiLeaks data dump indicates that, yes, the CIA can bypass the encryption and view your private messages.

But I thought WhatsApp, Signal and other apps encrypted my messages?

Those apps do employ encryption, but that's useless if the CIA can hack your phone. If you crack the operating system, you don't need to crack the app.

The OS shows what's on screen, listens to you typing or dictating words and captures that unencrypted original data. If software -- like the alleged CIA's hacking software -- can access the phone at that privileged level, it doesn't matter whether data is encrypted at rest (stored on disk/flash memory) or in flight (sent over network).

One thing we're unsure of is which versions Android, iOS, Mac OS X, smart TV software and other operating systems WikiLeaks hacks.

How did it hack these devices?

There isn't a single method the CIA uses to hack internet-connected devices. According to the report, the CIA uses a combination of malware, viruses, trojans and what it's calling "zero day" exploits to gain access into these devices.

Does this mean devices like my phone and smart TV aren't secure?

We're still not sure. We're actively reaching out to companies mentioned in the WikiLeaks document and will update this story as the news develops.

Is there anything I can do to secure my phone?

We're not sure. The information currently available indicates that the devices the CIA hacks -- including phones, tablets, smart TVs and computers -- have vulnerabilities the organization is able to exploit. If this is true, it would mean that all affected companies would need to patch these vulnerabilities to secure the devices.