CIA Able to Access Encrypted Data on Telegram, WhatsApp - Wikileaks

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) can hack smartphones and access encrypted information from Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal and Wiebo messengers, the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks said Tuesday, citing confidential information leaked from the CIA.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the organization, the CIA has several units specializing in malware designed for specific smartphone operating systems, with dedicated branches for Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

WikiLeaks #Vault7 confirms CIA can effectively bypass Signal + Telegram + WhatsApp + Confide encryptionhttps://t.co/h5wzfrReyy

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) 7 марта 2017 г.

"These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Wiebo, Confide and Cloackman by hacking the 'smart' phones that they run on and collecting audio and message traffic before encryption is applied," the WikiLeaks press release said.

The CIA reportedly failed to disclose serious vulnerabilities, also known as "zero days," of various technology products and proceeded to use them to target the relevant software.

Earlier on Tuesday, the WikiLeaks began to release what it said was an unprecedentedly large archive of CIA-related classified documents.

The first part of the leaks dubbed "Year Zero" comprises 8,761 documents and files from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virgina.

"The quantity of published pages in "Vault 7" part one ("Year Zero") already eclipses the total number of pages published over the first three years of the Edward Snowden NSA leaks."