WikiLeaks today published Vault 7 “Grasshopper,” a new series of documents revealing malware developed by the CIA to compromise Windows systems to bypass antivirus software.
The 27 documents published by WikiLeaks are reported to come from the CIA's so-called Grasshopper framework, a platform classified as "secret" by the US intelligence agency, and which is supposedly only available to CIA members.
Today's leak shows how the CIA developed and uses malware that can go unnoticed by even the world's top antivirus software, such as those from Kaspersky and Symantec. The malware cannot even be detected by Microsoft's security solution, Windows Defender.
The documents reveal internal guidelines used by the CIA to collect information from systems (running Windows), depending on the version of the operating system and the installed security products.
A separate section in today's leaks is called Stolen Goods (Version 2), and it represents malware developed by cybercriminals around the world and modified by the CIA for its own purposes. One such malware is Carberp, which is malware created by a hacker believed to be from Russia.
WikiLeaks reports that the specific CIA tools were used since 2012 and by 2015 they received several updates that added more improvements and new features.
The CIA has already responded and issued a statement denying all of these allegations, stating that the agency makes “no comment on the authenticity of the alleged documents.”
“The American public should be deeply concerned by Wikileaks’ revelations that are designed to undermine the Intelligence Community’s ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries. These revelations not only endanger U.S. personnel and businesses, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information that do us harm,” the agency said.
