Posted on 05/22/2017 1:07:19 PM PDT by Enlightened1
The latest file revealed in WikiLeaks' Vault 7 catalog of CIA hacking toolkit is Athena, a surveillance tool apparently designed to capture communications from Windows XP to Windows 10 machines.
Details of the Athena malware are available in a document allegedly created by the CIA in November 2015. The malware is said to have been made in conjunction with US cybersecurity firm Siege Technologies, which was acquired by Nehemiah Security late last year.
Athena is the ninth Vault 7 release of CIA hacking tools for mobile and desktop systems. WikiLeaks has been revealing one tool at the end of each week over the past two months.
As noted in the documents, Athena is "a very simple implant application" that offers remote access to the target machine. The malware can be used to deliver a payload so that files can be delivered to and retrieved from a directory of the host.
"The target computer operating systems are Windows XP Pro SP3 32-bit (Athena only), Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit, Windows 8.1 32- bit/64-bit, Windows 2008 Enterprise Server, Windows 2012 Server, and Windows 10," the documents note.
There's a separate implementation of the malware called Hera, or Athena-Bravo, that supports Windows 8 to Windows 10.
Athena, which is also called Athena-Alpha, gains persistence via the Windows RemoteAccess service, while Hera/Athena-Bravo uses the Dnscache service.
The documents outline several ways to deliver the malware including remote installation, the supply chain, via an "asset", or with a tool called Windex detailed in earlier WikiLeaks releases.
(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...
Traitors Brennan and Obama-the-crypto-Moslem who gave
up his US citizenship RELEASED THIS TECHNOLOGY
to Islamic terrorists and anyone who paid them.
This was treason, FRiends.
Simple treason and felonies.
Just like the MO of the Clinton Foundation
and the murders of Seth Rich and the others.
“The malware can be used to deliver a payload so that files can be delivered to and retrieved from a directory of the host.”
You know, that would allow the government to plant “evidence” on someone’s computer.
It was very nice of the CIA and the NSA to create all these lovely hacking tools, so that criminals all over the world can use them to unleash havoc and mayhem all over the planet.
I know! I mean what’s the point of trying to secure your computer when the f***ing government is ordering people to put back doors in it? And then they don’t secure the back doors?
At some point we the people have to insist that computer security has to be more important than the government’s ability to get into our stuff whenever they feel like it.
Micro$oft’s Fault.
(from my Linux computer)
I’ve been using Cinammon Mint OS now (v 17.2) and it’s nice. Beats windoze hands down.
My Linux pc only has one 64bit AMD cpu and it blows away any windoze pc (dual or quad cpu) I have.
I use ONLY the Linux pc for surfing the web, e-mail and anything with $, i.e. ordering stuff, or whatever. I really like this OS.
It would be interesting to know how much money has been lost by computer/tablet/smartphone users across the globe due to this CIA created malware. After totaling up all the lost hours of work, ruined devices, expenses to repair, lost deals and contracts, etc., the dollar figure must be astronomical.
I’ve been using some for of Linux since 1994.
Currently it is Debian.
Have run a lot of different distributions.
I Particularly like XFCE GUI. Have been using that since Redhat 8 came out. It was not part of the install package, I added it. Used it on all distributions I have installed since.
Linux has been stable over the years huh?
Total gui person here, I’m lost on terminal command stuff.
That’s one reason I like Cinammon Mint so much. It’s similar to the layout of xp.
“trying to secure your computer”
In the 21st Century, no electronic device should ever be considered secure.
Your surfing habits are almost certainly being monitored by a commercial company.
There’s a very significant probability that every key I’ve typed today is on a computer somewhere else too.
Your daily travels are well-known to your cell phone company.
Even Donald Trump knows electronic communications aren’t secure.
Big Brother is now quite small.
The Russians and Israelis ignore the 4th Amendment.
We probably account for over 50% of the funding of the KGB.
This is utter screaming bull**it that we cannot keep a secret for more than 45 seconds. No, I don’t like this kind of surveillance any more than anyone else but there is never a need to disclose that it exists.
It can also be used to ‘hide’ stuff..................
I’m using Ubuntu a lot more these days.
‘doze is going to mostly relegated to a handful of applications.
Yes there is WINE and Virtualbox. I’m usually too fried after a week of the techno-incompetent a lot to play with either very much.
“The 4th amendment was written by slave-holding white men.”
Yours truly, the NSA
If these tools are being used for wholesale surveillance of the entire American populace, by an out-of--control government that has ceased to function within the constraints of the US Constitution, there certainly IS a need to expose their existence.
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