As if the division in the FBI under disgraced former director Jim "Clinton" Comey wasn't bad enough, now we have this bit of shocking "intel" to chew on: The CIA has built a fake software update system to spy on intelligence partners.
WikiLeaks, perhaps the most useful "intelligence agency" working today, has just revealed another hacking tool developed by the CIA. This tool referred to as ExpressLane, doesn't target companies or consumers in the United States. It targets other intelligence allies like the NSA, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The project was initiated to help the CIA access information that other intelligence agencies were refusing to share. The CIA had already been providing partner agencies with technical support services for a biometric collection system. As part of the collaboration with other intelligence agencies, all parties agreed to share biometric data with the CIA. Suspicion that their partners were holding out on data they had collected compelled the CIA to develop a backup plan.
ExpressLane was developed to be undetectable, but should any agency become suspicious, it was equipped to allow for the initiation of a self-destruction process that would have compromised the computer system completely. Since ExpressLane has the look and feel of a software update and was delivered in person by CIA technicians, it was easier to be implemented. When installed the system itself would remain unchanged as the program siphoned the system’s data to a thumb drive. From there agents could examine the thumb drives content for information that the partner agency may have been holding back.
In the case that the self-destruction process needed to be implemented, the CIA agents had to personally restore the system! When doing so they could remove any trace of the hack and also do more looking for the data that may have not been shared. It was close to a perfect plot.
ExpressLane will certainly not be the intelligence community's last attempt to win the information war among the public sector powers that be, but whether these programs are every used against the private sector should remain an issue of concern to Americans already reeling from 2 widespread infections over the past several months.
How do you protect you online devices? Share your methods in the comments section below.
Geez! If I can just keep myself safe from #WatermarkCult STAFF! I have been sent a computer virus 12/15, and been harassed by Anita Prevett Smith by not one but TWO pseudonyms, 1) Charis Wynn 2) "Stacy Ann". Thank the Lord I still have conex to an I.T. dept!