Is CIA the only agency in the world that can penetrate your iPhone and Mac laptop?
A few weeks ago, Wikileaks released documents that confirmed CIA had been intentionally infecting Apple Devices with non-removable malware. According to the latest vault7 leak from the non-profit organization run by fugitive Julian Assange, the agency has developed malware smart enough to withstand a full device wipeout and remain active even after the phone/Mac is reset to manufactory settings. They did provide plenty of evidence in the form of docs that is readily available on the WikiLeaks webpage.
A few of the things that CIA do is to gather, process, and analyze national security information from all over the world. Luckily, they are a US government-funded agency whose primary goal is to collect intelligence that eventually keeps our loved ones and us safe. CIA’s efforts over the years is one of the reasons why we feel secure here in the US, and their devotion is one of the many reasons why the USA is amongst the most powerful nations in the world. Technically, CIA is just doing their job – they develop tools that gather intelligence.
Why should you be worried?
The reason why people, especially the ones living here in the US, should be worried is not the actual leak, but the fact that Julian Assange and his team managed to get their hands on such sensitive information. When you hear that there has been a security breach in Yahoo, you just nod your head, change passwords and move forward, but when you understand that the most powerful intelligence agency in the world has lost a battle, this is worrisome. It is certainly not OK to hear your president say on live TV that his Central Intelligence Agency has been hacked and “and a lot of things” have been taken. President Donald Trump did say it happened during the presidency of Barack Obama, which does not make it better or worse, as the problem is there, and it continues to exist.
Exposing Sensitive information
Even though that we welcome whistleblowing, exposing so much sensitive information to the public may not be the best strategy to resolve an issue. We are not sure if WikiLeaks make the world a better place by exposing these documents. The leak provides cyber criminals with information and ideas how to penetrate the security of regular people.
CIA is most likely not going to express any interest in you as a person unless you are on the most wanted list, but other state sponsored intelligence groups and hackers might get ideas of how to get into your device and take advantage of these little exploits in the system. Luckily, according to Apple, the exploits mentioned in the leak have been patched back in 2013. WikiLeaks claims otherwise. No one knows what is going on, or at least there is no enough evidence able to support right or wrong.
Extra layer of security
As US residents, we can now pray there are no other agencies in the world that have better tools than our one. We also hope that we are a step ahead of them. We would all agree that we would rather have the force with FBI, rather than with the Russian, Iranian or Chinese FBI equivalents.
So to briefly answer the question for you, we wanted to let you know that CIA is not after you unless you are a person of interest. However, there are individuals from foreign states who would enjoy knowing more about you and your whereabouts. We sincerely hope they do not have access to our devices. The good news is that there are antivirus software companies such as Panda Security that allow you to have an extra layer of security.
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Source: Panda