NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

WikiLeaks says the CIA created a weapon and lost control of it

By Charis Chang
news.com.au·
8 Mar, 2017 06:37 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

WikiLeaks says documents it obtained reveal that the CIA targeted everyday gadgets such as smartphones and personal computers as part of a surveillance program. AP reporter Jack Gillum explains why the release could be damaging to the CIA.

America's spy agency has created a series of cyberweapons that it has now lost control of and can now be used against the US by rival countries, cyber mafia and even teenage hackers.

In a massive release of documents code-named "Vault 7", WikiLeaks said the Central Intelligence Agency has recently lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal.

These "cyberweapons" actually consist of several hundred million lines of code and can give those who possess it the entire hacking capacity of the CIA.

WikiLeaks now has possession of some of this code, after it was passed around among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorised way, and one of them passed it on to the whistleblower site.

READ MORE
• WikiLeaks releases thousands of CIA documents
• Wikileaks' bombshell claims - why the CIA is using your TVs, smartphones and cars for spying

• WikiLeaks 'Vault 7' dump reignites conspiracy theories surrounding death of Michael Hastings
• FBI prepares for new mole hunt for WikiLeaks' source

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The latest leak exposes how US spies can remotely hack and control smartphones, computers, TVs and even vehicles.

WikiLeaks has not released the code but has published thousands of documents highlighting how it can be used, and that it cannot be controlled.

"Once a single cyber 'weapon' is 'loose' it can spread around the world in seconds, to be used by rival states, cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike," a WikiLeaks statement said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

As WikiLeaks points out, cyber weapons are just computer programs that can be pirated just like any other program and are therefore very hard to keep under control.

There is a significant incentive for government hackers and consultants to hand over information about these malware, viruses, trojans, weaponised "zero day" exploits and malware remote control systems, because some would pay millions of dollars for it.

WikiLeaks said the CIA had also created an "own goal" by choosing to make its cyberarsenal "unclassified" so that its officers aren't prosecuted for placing classified information on the internet.

"This means that cyber 'arms' manufactures and computer hackers can freely 'pirate' these 'weapons' if they are obtained," it said.

Discover more

World

FBI ready for new hunt for WikiLeaks' source

08 Mar 01:52 AM
World

Sinister CIA conspiracy theory

08 Mar 02:19 AM
World

The Big Read: Wikileaks' CIA bombshell

08 Mar 04:45 AM
World

Wikileaks to help firms defend against CIA

09 Mar 10:59 PM

"The CIA has primarily had to rely on obfuscation to protect its malware secrets."

Curtin University cyber security expert Mihai Lazarescu said the WikiLeaks release was an "absolute calamity" and "heads should roll" at the CIA.

"It is significant in the sense that, if the information WikiLeaks made available is the actual code itself, this would allow any other group to make use of it," Associate Professor Lazarescu told news.com.au.

He said other countries like China and Russia would already have their own programs to target western infrastructure but if they were able to access the US codes, they could gain a better understanding of what the CIA was targeting. It would also make it easier for them to imitate the CIA and impersonate their agents.

"I would be very surprised if WikiLeaks servers haven't been breached by every intelligence agency in the world," he said.

But it was not just other states that would be interested in the code. Prof Lazarescu said criminal groups would also be trying to access it.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This would most likely be to compromise the confidentiality of data for financial gain or to manipulate data.

It all sounds very ominous but Professor Greg Austin, an expert in cyber security research from UNSW Canberra, said it was difficult to judge precisely how significant the latest breach was.

"It's almost impossible to judge from a distance what share of the CIA capability the leak represents," he said.

"The large volume of lines of code looks like a lot but I would be very surprised to find that the best assets of these agencies are now in the public domain."

Prof Austin said the programs were definitely tools that could be used to attack other countries but he doesn't necessarily believe the CIA has lost control of them.

"I want to see the evidence," he said. "But if the programs and sequences (that WikiLeaks has obtained) are genuine, they can definitely be used by anybody."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, Prof Austin said it was also important to note the National Security Agency, not the CIA, is America's primary cyber intelligence agency, so he doesn't believe the leak would include the totality of CIA and NSA capability.

Prof Austin said other countries already had their own technology anyway.

"Other countries already have it," he said. "That horse has bolted. Any weaponised code like that can be used by malicious actors."

Realistically, Prof Austin said private citizens couldn't do much to stop cyber espionage by foreign intelligence agencies.

"I already operate on the assumption that anything I do electronically is already accessible by foreign intelligence agencies," Prof Austin said.

"So I'm not concerned whether it is Russian, Chinese or American."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And while teenage hackers could get hold of programs to hack into people's lives, Prof Austin said it was unlikely they would target ordinary citizens.

"The prospect of your personal photos being put in the public domain is extremely low, you've got to be a celebrity or government official for that," he said.

"However, if you win that lottery you can suffer substantial disadvantage and cost or personal injury," he said.

Prof Austin said companies like Microsoft or Google regularly released updates to patch their software once they become aware of threats, and this was part of the never-ending cycle of threat and counter defence.

"It speaks to how far behind the world is on cybersecurity, we are almost defenceless against determined snooping or spying by major powers," he said.

"This is definitely the world we live in. Webcams and CCTVs are hijacked and hacked and used for other purposes. This isn't science fiction anymore.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We are heading for the future, the dawn of the cyber age."

Prof Austin believes the WikiLeaks drop is part of its campaign to redraw the boundaries of civil liberties within the US and other countries.

But he said the problem would likely be very different in 20 years time and much worse than it was now.

"The more technology spreads, the harder it will be for the government and community to be alert for all the security implications."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

18 Jun 08:02 AM
World

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

18 Jun 07:16 AM
World

Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

18 Jun 06:15 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

'Terrible lie': Defence counters claims in mushroom murder trial

18 Jun 08:02 AM

Barrister says prosecutors focused on messages to undermine Erin Patterson's family ties.

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

Three Australians facing death penalty in Bali murder case

18 Jun 07:16 AM
Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

Death toll from major Russian strike on Kyiv rises to 21, more than 130 injured

18 Jun 06:15 AM
Milestone move: Taiwan's submarine programme advances amid challenges

Milestone move: Taiwan's submarine programme advances amid challenges

18 Jun 04:23 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP