Dark Matter – The New Wikileaks Dump

Interesting, as you would expect:

Today, March 23rd 2017, WikiLeaks releases Vault 7 “Dark Matter”, which contains documentation for several CIA projects that infect Apple Mac Computer firmware (meaning the infection persists even if the operating system is re-installed) developed by the CIA’s Embedded Development Branch (EDB). These documents explain the techniques used by CIA to gain ‘persistence’ on Apple Mac devices, including Macs and iPhones and demonstrate their use of EFI/UEFI and firmware malware.

Among others, these documents reveal the “Sonic Screwdriver” project which, as explained by the CIA, is a “mechanism for executing code on peripheral devices while a Mac laptop or desktop is booting” allowing an attacker to boot its attack software for example from a USB stick “even when a firmware password is enabled”. The CIA’s “Sonic Screwdriver” infector is stored on the modified firmware of an Apple Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter.

“DarkSeaSkies” is “an implant that persists in the EFI firmware of an Apple MacBook Air computer” and consists of “DarkMatter”, “SeaPea” and “NightSkies”, respectively EFI, kernel-space and user-space implants.

Documents on the “Triton” MacOSX malware, its infector “Dark Mallet” and its EFI-persistent version “DerStake” are also included in this release. While the DerStake1.4 manual released today dates to 2013, other Vault 7 documents show that as of 2016 the CIA continues to rely on and update these systems and is working on the production of DerStarke2.0.

Also included in this release is the manual for the CIA’s “NightSkies 1.2” a “beacon/loader/implant tool” for the Apple iPhone. Noteworthy is that NightSkies had reached 1.2 by 2008, and is expressly designed to be physically installed onto factory fresh iPhones. i.e the CIA has been infecting the iPhone supply chain of its targets since at least 2008.

While CIA assets are sometimes used to physically infect systems in the custody of a target it is likely that many CIA physical access attacks have infected the targeted organization’s supply chain including by interdicting mail orders and other shipments (opening, infecting, and resending) leaving the United States or otherwise.

Most of this is stuff you would expect the CIA to be doing to target enemies overseas. If they kept it overseas, I wouldn’t even bother to write about it, since it would be part of national security.

What you should take note of are two things though. One, notice the power of these tools. Look at the extent of the penetration and how easy and risk-free the spying process has evolved to become. Who will ever know if their brand new iPhone is reporting everything they do over their 4g network to some secret government server?

Two, note the amygdala-atrophy of the times, and how people today lack that little voice which says, “Don’t do that.”

What we will find one day is that there is no reason to not deploy all of this to spy on American citizens, and the practical reality of the system reflects that. What will really shock everyone is the extent of the corruption of the entire system, including the civilian media. Everything is controlled, except the online dialog and a select few individuals who apparently dislike this new direction the nation is taking.

This stab at total control would work is some nations, but in America, as the internet is stripping the elites of all control over the narrative, it would seem a prescription for unrest at some point. The rabbits have never supported the nation’s security apparatus. If the conservatives turn against the national security apparatus too, I can’t see how the government can last long, and none of that factors in the fast approaching Apocalypse.

Tell everyone about r/K Theory, because the future is looking very unsettled