WikiLeaks Will Work With Manufacturers To Develop ‘Fixes’ For CIA Hacking Tools

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said that the organisation will give manufacturers “exclusive access” to documents related to CIA hacking tools.

Earlier this week the whistleblowing site published thousands of classified documents exposing the secret tools the CIA uses in order to gain access to popular smartphones, computers and even smart televisions.

Dated between 2013 and 2016, the documents are believed to be genuine, with the leak from an unnamed source creating huge embarrassment for America’s premiere intelligence agency.

CIA leaks

Speaking during an online press conference held at the Embassy of Ecuador in London where he has lived since 2012, Assange pledged to help manufacturers develop patches for the hacking tools, after which more documents will be published.

“The Central Intelligence Agency lost control of its entire cyberweapons arsenal,” he said. “This is an historic act of devastating incompetence to have created such an arsenal and stored it all in one place and not secured it.

“WikiLeaks has a lot more information on what has been going in with the cyber weapons programme, so I want to announce today that after considering what we think is the best way to proceed and hearing these calls from some of the manufacturers, we have decided to work with them, to give them some exclusive access to the additional technical details we have so that fixes can be developed and pushed out so people can be secured.

“And then once this material is effectively disarmed by us by removing critical components, we will publish additional details about what has been occurring.”

US federal agencies have launched an investigation into the leaks, with a CIA spokesperson telling the BBC that: “The American public should be deeply troubled by any Wikileaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence community’s ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries.”

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