In the wake of the CIA document leaks by WikiLeaks, which present through 8,000+ internal documents of the secret intelligence service all (?) types of hacking used by American spies, what has changed in the world of security?
Unlike the Snowden documents, which shocked the world so much, the interest of the online community does not seem to be the same. During Snowden, months later, even those who were not interested in technology were reading the news with awe, realizing for the first time how exposed their personal lives were.
But let's look at things a little more "realistically."
First of all, the CIA is an intelligence agency that tries to get every bit of information it can. The CIA does exactly what the Russians, the Chinese, the British intelligence service, and many others do. If they weren't looking for or buying zero-days that hack into the iPhones of foreign actors inside and outside the US, then they wouldn't be doing their job properly.
On the other hand, maintaining security remains just as important this week as it was last week, and all the other weeks before the WikiLeaks leaks, we all agree that our information needs to be secure.
Despite WikiLeaks' claims that the CIA can bypass encrypted messaging apps, the secret service has not cracked the apps themselves but the operating systems. The encryption was not broken, but bypassed.
Make no mistake, these hacking techniques are real, they work, and the CIA uses them. But nothing unexpected happens.
Companies whose names were "heard" like Open Whisper Systems, which develops Signal, smugly stated that this shows how their efforts are being rewarded.
“End-to-end encryption forces intelligence agencies to bypass it using targeted attacks.”
“The story is not about whether Signal or WhatsApp are vulnerable. We see it as confirmation that what we are doing is working.”
Below is an excerpt from one of our publications from the post-Snowden era.
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For over a month we have been reading publications concerning the actions of the US intelligence services, or to be precise, one of the US. At first the reactions were numb, we were probably trying to grasp the magnitude. And I mention the magnitude because I don't think there is anyone from our readership who believed that the US was not up to something with a global means of communication that has been so well established in recent years.
Immediately after the initial shock, reactions began, while new information poured in. All the major Internet companies that handle the majority (if not all) of the communications traffic were allied with US spy programs.
Microsoft , Apple , Google , Yahoo and who knows how many others, had given open access to the NSA to facilitate their high-level work. To monitor our conversations, with our loved ones, sorry NSA I'm not a terrorist .
Immediately after the revelation, the denials came. Honestly, did you expect any of the above companies to take responsibility? I don't think so. But it doesn't stop there.
In the following period, reports presented Yahoo as having filed a lawsuit in the US because it never wanted its customers to be monitored.
However, this publication was presented 2-3 days after Edward Snowden revealed the company's actions. Coincidence?
Immediately after that follows a publication that presents Yahoo almost regretfully stating that “after this we do not take your trust for granted”. Very diplomatically formulated acceptance! One can think of many things. like let's say “Now Yahoo will probably try to gain our trust” with all that this entails.
The great and innocent Google followed. It too filed a lawsuit seeking to clear its name, which it has been guarding like the apple of its eye for so many years. You hear people accusing Google of tracking its users… It never happened again.
Then came its sudden decision to ensure the privacy of its users' data by changing its encryption.
Ultimately, perhaps everything that Snowden mentioned, documented with NSA documents, may all be fairy tales and the only real ones in this case may be the companies, which are always trying altruistically to help us.
But since sarcasm is good but the truth seems to be on the completely opposite side, we probably have some responsibility too. Everyone involved in technology knows that there are no secrets on the Internet. The NSA did exactly what they were ordered to do.
But no one ordered us to use Skype, or Gmail, Mac OS X or Windows. And of course I blame myself for knowing the actions of Google and every Google, and I continue to use Gmail.
Microsoft , Apple , Google , and Yahoo will never come out and say that they are allied with the secret services, because that will have financial costs and more.
And if they say it or if they ever change, no one can guarantee that they won't repeat it in the future, especially when things calm down.
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After all that has come before, what has changed? Has a court ruled against the NSA, or have the intelligence agencies stopped doing their job? Have vulnerabilities stopped existing? Or is there anyone who thinks they are safe on the Internet?
In our previous publication, we had mentioned that we would be safe until the next Snowden, and it seems that time has come.
Let's talk about it a little longer until it's forgotten...
