FBI probing release of CIA hacking tools
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the public release of a document cache believed to detail CIA hacking tools designed to breach computers, web servers, smartphones and televisions, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said the inquiry is being coordinated by the FBI, following Tuesday's disclosure by the website WikiLeaks, which stated that the CIA Center for Cyber Intelligence "lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal.''
The inquiry, the official said, will seek to determine whether the disclosure represented a breach from the outside or a leak from inside the spy agency.
A separate review will attempt to assess the damage caused by such a disclosure, the official said.
CIA spokesman Dean Boyd declined to comment on the status of any investigation into the source of the documents or vouch for the authenticity of the materials, though he defended the agency's mission to "aggressively collect foreign intelligence overseas to protect America from terrorists, hostile nation states and other adversaries.''
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"It is also important to note that CIA is legally prohibited from conducting electronic surveillance targeting individuals here at home, including our fellow Americans and CIA does not do so,'' Boyd said. "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.''
Beyond the agency, the publication of the documents stoked renewed anxiety for the security of such government information and for the potential vulnerability of every-day electronic devices to intrusion.
White House comment
White House spokesman Sean Spicer Wednesday declined to confirm the authenticity of the documents or whether the tools were every used against Americans, but he said such breaches "should be a major concern.''
"This is the kind of disclosure that undermines our country, our security,'' Spicer said. "This alleged leak should concern every American for its impact on national security. ... Anybody who leaks classified information will be held accountable to the maximum extent of the law.''
Only weeks before the November election, Trump was lauding WikiLeaks following its publication of correspondence from John Podesta, then-campaign chairman for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
On Wednesday, however, Spicer suggested there was a "difference'' between Podesta's hacked emails and the disclosure of classified information, though the theft of both represent possible criminal offenses.
Members of Congress, including House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said Tuesday's WikiLeaks disclosures underscored a need to conduct a government-wide security assessment of its most sensitive information.
At the same time, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., called the potential privacy implications "mind boggling.''
The WikiLeaks website said the CIA hacking division involved "more than 5,000 registered users and had produced more than a thousand hacking systems, trojans, viruses and other weaponized malware.''
WikiLeaks did not identify the source of the information, but the organization said that it hopped the dissemination of the documents would prompt "a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of the cyberweapons.''
U.S. intelligence officials concluded last year that WikiLeaks release of thousands of hacked emails ahead of last year's presidential election was part of scheme carried out by Russia in an attempt to intervene in the race in an effort to favor the Trump campaign.
WikiLeaks has denied that it was working with Russian authorities.
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