Concept

Vault 7

Vault 7 is a series of documents that WikiLeaks began to publish on 7 March 2017, detailing the activities and capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. The files, dating from 2013 to 2016, include details on the agency's software capabilities, such as the ability to compromise cars, smart TVs, web browsers (including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera), and the operating systems of most smartphones (including Apple's iOS and Google's Android), as well as other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. A CIA internal audit identified 91 malware tools out of more than 500 tools in use in 2016 being compromised by the release. The tools were developed by the Operations Support Branch of the C.I.A. The release of Vault 7 led the CIA to redefine WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service.” In July 2022 former CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte was convicted of leaking the documents to WikiLeaks. During January and February 2017, the United States Justice Department was negotiating through Julian Assange's attorney Adam Waldman for immunity and safe passage for Assange to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and to travel to the United States both to discuss risk minimization of future WikiLeaks releases including redactions and to testify that Russia was not the source for the WikiLeaks releases in 2016. In mid February 2017, Waldman, who was pro bono, asked Senator Mark Warner who was co-chairman of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee if he had any questions to ask Assange. Warner contacted FBI Director James Comey and told Waldman "stand down and end the negotiations with Assange," with which Waldman complied. However, David Laufman who was Waldman's counterpart with the Justice Department replied, "That's B.S. You're not standing down and neither am I.

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Related concepts (13)
Cyberweapon
Cyberweapons are commonly defined as malware agents employed for military, paramilitary, or intelligence objectives as part of a cyberattack. This includes computer viruses, trojans, spyware, and worms that can introduce malicious code into existing software, causing a computer to perform actions or processes unintended by its operator. A cyberweapon is usually sponsored or employed by a state or non-state actor, meets an objective that would otherwise require espionage or the use of force, and is employed against specific targets.
Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
Ongoing news reports in the international media have revealed operational details about the Anglophone cryptographic agencies' global surveillance of both foreign and domestic nationals. The reports mostly emanate from a cache of top secret documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which he obtained whilst working for Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest contractors for defense and intelligence in the United States. In addition to a trove of U.S.
Data breach
A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen, altered or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, information leakage and data spill. Incidents range from concerted attacks by individuals who hack for personal gain or malice (black hats), organized crime, political activists or national governments, to poorly configured system security or careless disposal of used computer equipment or data storage media.
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